The Prisoner of Zenda

by Anthony Hope, Philip Ardagh (Introduction)

Overview

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

English gentleman, Rupert Rassendyll, arrives in the kingdom of Ruritania on the eve of King Rudolf’s coronation. That night the king is abducted and held prisoner in a castle in the small town of Zenda. Rupert, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Rudolf, is persuaded to impersonate the King in order to stop the king’s brother, Prince Michael, from seizing the throne. Rupert is determined to rescue the King but can he defeat the dastardly villain, Rupert of Hentzau?

A swashbuckling adventure that never takes itself too seriously, The Prisoner of Zenda is packed with intrigue, backstabbing, bravery and romance.

This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by children’s author, Philip Ardagh.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509834587
Publisher:	Macmillan Collector's Library
Publication date:	10/03/2017
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	4.00(w) x 6.23(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Over six and a half feet tall, with a bushy beard, Philip Ardagh is not only very big but also very hairy. He is the author of the Eddie Dickens Trilogy and when not writing silly books, Mr. Ardagh is quite serious and frowns a great deal. He lives in a seaside town somewhere in England with his wife, and their son, Fred.

Table of Contents

I. The Rassendylls—with a Word on the Elphbergs
II. Concerning the Colour of Men's Hair
III. A Merry Evening with a Distant Relative
IV. The King Keeps His Appointment
V. The Adventures of an Understudy
VI. The Secret of a Cellar
VII. His Majesty Sleeps in Strelsau
VIII. A Fair Cousin and a Dark Brother
IX. A New Use for a Tea Table
X. A Great Chance for a Villain
XI. Hunting a Very Big Boar
XII. I Receive a Visitor and Bait a Hook
XIII. An Improvement on Jacob's Ladder
XIV. A Night Outside the Castle
XV. I Talk With a Tempter
XVI. A Desperate Plan
XVII. Young Rupert's Midnight Diversions
XVIII. The Forcing of the Trap
XIX. Face to Face in the Forest
XX. The Prisoner and the King
XXI. If Love Were All!
XXII. Present, Past—and Future?

Editorial Reviews

Another hot new series from Penguin, "Great Books for Boys" offers a handful of top adventure stories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Each volume sports a nice vintage-looking cover to complete the spell. Great fun (and girls can read them, too!).

—Michael Rogers

Library Journal

The story is full of swordplay (and a little gunplay), barely repressed passion, political maneuvering, and severely tested personal honor.”

AudioFile

This is one of those rattling good yarns whose heart is so solidly in the right place that one is prepared to forgive some shoddy writing at the margins.”

Telegraph (London)

This fast-moving, well-placed romance reaffirmed the pride of English men in what they thought they had :a sense of justice, profound honour and adroitness, all worn lightly.”

Sunday Times (London)

The tale speeds like an arrow, never deviating from its appointed course. There are no loopholes, only a rising tide of intrigue and excitement that never abates.”

New York University Nathan R. Teitel

"A hugely enjoyable rip-roaring adventure of chivalry and romance." — The New European

From the Publisher