Comedies of Courtship

Hope (1863-1933) was an English novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels, but he is best remembered for only two of his books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Henzau (1898). These works of political intrigue set in the contemporaneous fictional European kingdom of Ruritania spawned the genre termed 'Ruritanian romance', and The Prisoner of Zenda has inspired many adaptations, notably the 1937 Hollywood film. This collection of humorous romantic short stories was first published together in book form in 1896.