Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau

Best known for his political fairy tale, The Prisoner of Zenda, which saw many screen adaptations, including the acclaimed 1937 film starring Ronald Colman, Anthony Hope carried a wide popular and critical audience throughout his lifetime.

Regarded by many critics as the finest adventure story ever written—and certainly one of the most popular—The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) tells the story of Rudolf Rassendyll, a dashing English gentleman who bears an uncanny resemblance to the ruler of the fictional kingdom of Ruritania. Rassendyll masquerades as the king in order to save the country from a treacherous plot and secures the release of a wronged prisoner. In the process he wins the heart of the beautiful Princess Flavia, but ultimately surrenders the crown and the hand of his beloved princess to the rightful ruler.

Rupert of Hentzau (1898), which ends in tragedy, not triumph, is the darker sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda. Full of humor and swashbuckling feats of heroism, the tales also contain, within their narrative structures and characterizations, a brilliant satire on late-nineteenth-century European politics.