On the eve of his coronation King Rudolf V of Ruritania is mysteriously drugged. To prevent the chaos of having to postpone the ceremony, an attendant suggests that the visiting nobleman Rufold Rassendyll, who shares an uncanny resemblance with the monarch, should pretend to be the king. The coronation goes smoothly, but when the party returns to the real king’s lodge he has been abducted. The Prisoner of Zenda is a delightful adventure novel, full to the brim with royalty, scheming plots, and daring chivalry. It has been adapted many times, for film, stage, musical and radio. ANTHONY HOPE [1863–1933] was a British novelist and playwright. He was a popular novelist of his time, publishing more than 30 novels during his lifetime. He is most famous for the adventure novel The Prisoner of Zenda , which sparked a whole genre of books called Ruritanian romance, after the fictional country of the book.