English · Intermediate
Read The Prisoner of Zenda in Englishwith every sentence explained
Anthony Hope · 1894
Free to start · iPhone, iPad & Mac
About the book
The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope was first published in 1894. In Passage you read the full text in the original English, marked intermediate and filed under romance and thriller and suspense. It runs to about 53,400 words.
A king is missing. A stranger takes his place. A whole country must not find out.
Rudolf Rassendyll is a lazy, charming young Englishman with red hair and nothing to do. On a whim he travels to the small kingdom of Ruritania to watch the coronation of its new king, and discovers that the king looks exactly like him.
On the night before the ceremony, the king is drugged by his ambitious brother, Black Michael, who wants the throne for himself. To save the crown, two loyal officers beg Rudolf to put on the king's uniform and play the part. Soon he is living a dangerous lie, dodging assassins, and falling in love with the beautiful Princess Flavia, while the real king lies hidden in the castle of Zenda.
Fast, witty and romantic, this novel invented the "Ruritanian" adventure and has been filmed again and again.
- Author
- Anthony Hope
- First published
- 1894
- Language
- English
- Level
- Intermediate
- Genre
- Romance, Thriller and Suspense
- Length
- About 53,400 words
How it opens
“I wonder when in the world you’re going to do anything, Rudolf?” said my brother’s wife.
“My dear Rose,” I answered, laying down my egg-spoon, “why in the world should I do anything? My position is a comfortable one. I have an income nearly sufficient for my wants (no one’s income is ever quite sufficient, you know), I enjoy an enviable social position: I am brother to Lord Burlesdon, and brother-in-law to that charming lady, his countess. Behold, it is enough!”
Reading The Prisoner of Zenda in Passage
Passage sets the book as a quiet, paginated reader in English. Read at your own pace, and when a sentence stops you, tap it. You get:
- a natural translation of that exact sentence,
- a short note on the grammar, in plain words,
- the key words, which you can save with the sentence they came from,
- all of it in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Turkish or Portuguese, whichever you read best.
It's marked intermediate: comfortable once everyday English feels familiar, with the harder sentences one tap away. The words you save come back later in short review games, so the book keeps teaching after you close it.
