Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins (1863–1933) was an English writer. He started out as a lawyer, took up literature, and published essays and novels in newspapers and magazines. His real success was brought to him by two action-packed novels: “The Prisoner of Zenda” (1894) and its sequel “Rupert’s Revenge” (1898), which earned enormous popularity among the public. Following his success, Hope wrote a prequel to The Captive of Zenda - the novel The Heart of the Princess of Ozra (1896), but this book, like his subsequent publications - over 30 volumes of historical adventure works, did not receive such recognition. The famous duology is published in this volume about the prisoner of Zenda Castle. The intrigue of this amazing story begins with the arrival of the Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll, who looks unusually like the heir to the throne, to the small Bavarian kingdom of Ruritania. But he is in mortal danger in the person of his brother, who is preparing a plot to seize the throne. The young Englishman agrees to play the role of the future king at the coronation ceremony, not expecting to occupy this place for a long time, but the real king is suddenly kidnapped by the villain Rupert, and Rassendyll, willy-nilly, has to continue playing the accepted role...