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StoryPDFThe Prisoner of ZendaAnthony Hope

The Prisoner of Zenda

Anthony Hope

Complete text
NovelEnglish

Rudolf Rassendyll travels to Ruritania and discovers that he closely resembles the king about to be crowned. A conspiracy turns that coincidence into a demand for impersonation, drawing the visitor into court intrigue, divided loyalties, and a role whose obligations exceed his holiday plans.

22 sections53,774 wordsAbout 4 h 4 min
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About The Prisoner of Zenda

The first-person adventure treats disguise as both a thrilling opportunity and a moral constraint. Duels, secret movements, and contested loyalty keep the pace brisk, while the narrator must consider what he owes a position that is not his own. Romantic feeling makes the difference between personal desire and public duty especially difficult.

Reading focus

Enjoy a royal impersonation adventure that turns resemblance into danger and tests private desire against the obligations of an assumed identity.

This reading edition contains 53,774 words in 22 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Anthony Hope. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

“I wonder when in the world you’re going to do anything, Rudolf?” said my brother’s wife.

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Contents

All sections
  1. CHAPTER 1 The Rassendylls—With a Word on the Elphbergs10 min
  2. CHAPTER 2 Concerning the Colour of Men’s Hair11 min
  3. CHAPTER 3 A Merry Evening with a Distant Relative13 min
  4. CHAPTER 4 The King Keeps His Appointment10 min
  5. CHAPTER 5 The Adventures of an Understudy12 min
  6. CHAPTER 6 The Secret of a Cellar11 min
  7. CHAPTER 7 His Majesty Sleeps in Strelsau11 min
  8. CHAPTER 8 A Fair Cousin and a Dark Brother12 min
  9. CHAPTER 9 A New Use for a Tea-table13 min
  10. CHAPTER 10 A Great Chance for a Villain12 min
  11. CHAPTER 11 Hunting a Very Big Boar13 min
  12. CHAPTER 12 I Receive a Visitor and Bait a Hook12 min
  13. CHAPTER 13 An Improvement on Jacob’s Ladder12 min
  14. CHAPTER 14 A Night Outside the Castle12 min
  15. CHAPTER 15 I Talk with a Tempter11 min
  16. CHAPTER 16 A Desperate Plan12 min
  17. CHAPTER 17 Young Rupert’s Midnight Diversions11 min
  18. CHAPTER 18 The Forcing of the Trap11 min
  19. CHAPTER 19 Face to Face in the Forest11 min
  20. CHAPTER 20 The Prisoner and the King13 min
  21. CHAPTER 21 If love were all!12 min
  22. CHAPTER 22 Present, Past—and Future?12 min

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Is this the complete The Prisoner of Zenda?

This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 22 sections and 53,774 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.

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