1899. With cover illustration by Charles Dana Gibson. The Prisoner of Zenda is the book who's success led Hope, a barrister, to give up the law and pursue a full-time literary career. The book relates the adventures of Rudolf Rassendyll, an English gentleman living in Ruritania who impersonates the king in order to save him from a treasonous plot. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.