The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope [republicV]

Anthony Hope is the pseudonym of Anthony Hope Hawkins, a successful and prolific author of fiction and drama. The son of a school headmaster, Hope was born in London in 1863. While practicing law, Hope also experimented with creative writing, and he published his first novel, a political satire entitled A Man of Mark, at his own expense in 1890. With the publication of his most famous novel, The Prisoner of Zenda, in 1894, Hope abandoned his legal career to write full-time, penning the short story collection, The Heart of Princess Osra (1896), and the Zenda sequel, Rupert of Hentzau (1898). Throughout his productive life, Hope published a wide variety of fiction, in areas ranging from the light domestic comedy of The Dolly Dialogues (1894) to the more serious fiction of Simon Dole (1889). He died on July 8, 1933.

Novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. This popular late-Victorian romance relates the adventures of Rudolf Rassendyll, an English gentleman living in Ruritania who impersonates the king in order to save him from a treasonous plot. Although the story is improbable, it is saved by Hope's high-spirited and often ironic tone. The book was so successful that Hope gave up his law practice and went on to write a sequel, Rupert of Hentzau (1898).
Five times made into film versions since its original publication in 1894, The Prisoner of Zenda is a perennially popular adventure and romance story.