Anthony Hope

The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces are such that in order for the king to retain his crown his coronation must go forward. An …

This adventure novel tells the story of Rudolf Rassendyll, younger brother of the Earl of Burlesdon and a distant cousin of Rudolf V, the new King of Ruritania. King Rudolf is a hard-drinking, feckless playboy, unpopular with the common people, but supported by the aristocracy. When Rudolf is abducted and imprisoned …