The Prisoner of Zenda follows the adventures of Rudolf Rassendyll, an honorable but idle descendant of a rumored "wrong side of the blanket" lineage resulting from a dalliance between a visiting King of Ruritania and a very married English countess. Faced with the prospect of actually commencing employment as a diplomatic attache, Rudolf plans to spend time vacationing on the continent, and decides on a visit to Ruritania. A chance encounter with the Crown Prince on the eve of his coronation as king reveals that the two, while not identical, are enough alike to fool most people.

A fortunate coincidence, because political intrigue waylays the Prince, the situation demands that the coronation take place as scheduled, and Rassendyll is persuaded by the Prince's aides to stand in for the ceremony. But the deception is immediately complicated by the kidnapping of the real king by his enemies, led by his half-brother, Prince Michael, and the romantic attachment which springs up between Rassendyll and Princess Flavia, the real king's intended bride.

Written with a broad, but dry, sense of humor, the story twists and turns through the maneuverings of the opposing factions, a fast-paced adventure story and poignant romance with chases, narrow escapes, duels, deceptions, and unexpected complications.

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins (1863-1933), who published during his lifetime as "Anthony Hope," was an English novelist and playwright. Called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1887, he gave up what was by all accounts a very promising legal career to pursue writing. The author of over thirty novels and several plays, he enjoyed a wide popular following in his time, but is known today primarily for only two of his books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and Rupert of Hentzau (1898), a true sequel. Sometimes identified as a "minor classic" of English literature, "The Prisoner of Zenda" received high praise from other writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson and A.E.W. Mason and was a phenomenal success when published, inspiring an entire genre in adventure fiction, the "Ruritanian Romance." The high-water mark of Hope's career, the novel has been adapted for film many times, and has also been produced on the stage.