The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope. The king of the fictional country of Ruritania is abducted on the eve of his coronation, and the protagonist, is persuaded to act as his political decoy in an attempt to save the situation. The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The protagonist is an English gentleman on holiday who fortuitously resembles the monarch.The villainous Rupert of Hentzau gave his name to the sequel published in 1898.