Written by Anthony Hope and published in 1894, The Prisoner of Zenda, is a swashbuckling adventure story, packed with intrigue, shady plots, shadowy figures, sword fights and romance. Wastrel, gadabout and man about town, Rudolf Rassendyll, decides to have one last hurrah before taking a proper job (shudder). On a jaunt to the Eastern European kingdom of Ruritania he takes in the coronation of their new King, but things quickly take a serious turn when the real King is kidnapped in the first stage of a coup.