The Prisoner of Zenda

Anthony Hope, 1894

Adventure

An idle English gentleman's holiday draws him towards the affairs of a foreign monarchy.

Read the book Contents

Length: 22 chapters
Reading time: About 3 hr 45 min
Words: 53,447

About the book

Rudolf Rassendyll is comfortable with his income, ancestry and lack of occupation, despite his sister-in-law's objections. Family history and an unusual resemblance become the starting points for an adventure in Ruritania, where private identity has public consequences.

Rassendyll tells the story with a conversational mixture of self-confidence and amusement. The novel turns questions of appearance and responsibility into the practical business of political adventure. Its opening invites readers to watch a man who sees little reason to exert himself encounter circumstances that demand more than social ease.

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Adventure

This edition

Text from Standard Ebooks, who proofread and typeset it and dedicate their edition to the public domain. Anthony Hope died more than 70 years ago, so the work is out of copyright in the UK.