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When one tries to make a list of classic tales of adventure, a book that almost always gets mentioned is The Prisoner of Zenda. Not as well-known is the sequel, Rupert of Hentzau, which concludes the story that is left somewhat hanging at the end of The Prisoner of Zenda. There have been a number of movie versions of these classic tales but none in the last 50 years or so. However, the theme of The Prisoner of Zenda (more on that below) has entered into many stories since the 1890s, when these books were written. Adventurous stories like these, with intelligent and brave heroes, villains who are real people but who are really evil, all lit up by the romance of distant places and the romance of love, serve to entertain, for sure, but also uplift one’s mind to better face the struggle of our world. After all, we are in a spiritual war of good against evil, so stories that encourage hope and not despair, determination and not resignation, and emphasize the value of never ever giving up in the face of wickedness, can serve a purpose far beyond entertainment.
The author of this two-part series of novels was Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins (1863 to 1933), who was better known by his pen name: Anthony Hope. He was British and wrote novels and plays. He trained and worked as a lawyer but always wrote in his spare time. Literary success, after several failures, made him give up his legal career to be a full-time writer. Hope wrote many historical novels but is mainly remembered for the two books reviewed here.
The Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel are set in the fictional country of Ruritania, found somewhere in Central Europe. An English gentleman of leisure, Rudolf Rassendyll, is vacationing in Ruritania. His family and the royal family of Ruritania are distant blood relations. Rudolf, who happens to be a good fencer (there are some good duels in the novel!) and who has some military experience, becomes involved with loyalists who are trying to foil a plot to usurp the throne from the true king. The fact that Rudolf happens to remarkably physically resemble the king of course has nothing to do with the story…and there is also a beautiful and intelligent princess… The novel is a witty, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly serious, well-written escapade of gallantry and romance.
The popularity of The Prisoner of Zenda in the 1890s started the literary genre known as Ruritanian romance, which were adventure books set in small, fictional European kingdoms, usually involving the royal family. It would be interesting to research what other novels were written in this genre (hint: The Lost Prince, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of A Secret Garden, is one of them). Perhaps a school assignment? These two novels are written at a high school level though they could be read by an advanced middle school reader.