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Trama e riassunto di Rupert di Hentzau
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About 5 h 40 min to read.A chi è rivolto
For readers who love fast adventure with duels, intrigue and a charming rogue, and anyone who has read The Prisoner of Zenda and wants more.
Che cos’è questo libro
Rupert of Hentzau is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1898. It is the sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda, which had made Hope's name a few years earlier. The setting is Ruritania, a kingdom, with its royal court, its hunting lodges and its capital, Strelsau.
The book gives you a story of honour, danger and old feeling in a place where a king's good name can matter more than a life. You meet the English gentleman Rudolf Rassendyll again, along with his loyal friends and the queen he loved and gave up. Most of all you meet Rupert of Hentzau, a daring, witty and utterly unscrupulous nobleman who treats every danger as a game. Let us begin with the world that Rupert inherits from the first book.
In questo riassunto
- 1A sequel built on an old adventureFree
- 2Rupert is the villain you cannot dismiss
- 3A secret puts the crown at risk
- 4Loyalty and love are tested by duty
- 5Told by a friend
- 6What a swashbuckler shows about honour
Punto chiave 1 di 6
A sequel built on an old adventure
To understand Rupert of Hentzau, you need the book that comes before it. In The Prisoner of Zenda, an Englishman named Rudolf Rassendyll discovers that he looks exactly like the king of Ruritania, who is also named Rudolf. When the king is seized by his enemies, Rassendyll takes his place to save the crown. In doing so he meets the king's cousin, the Princess Flavia, and falls in love with her.
That first adventure ends with a parting. Rassendyll gives up Flavia and returns to England, because duty and honour leave them no other way. The feeling between them does not end, though, and it hangs over the second book like a held breath.
The sequel also brings back the men of the first book. Colonel Sapt is the blunt old soldier who guards the king's interests. Fritz von Tarlenheim, the loyal young gentleman, also returns. Both have taken risks once for a throne and for a man who was not truly their king. They are now older, and they know how fragile the arrangement was.
And then there is Rupert of Hentzau, who had served the plotters in the first book and remains alive and free. Hope understood that readers had liked him despite themselves. The sequel is his chance to take the stage, and he does not waste it. Where the first book was a rescue, this one is a reckoning, and the question is who will pay for what was done before.
The novel is meant to be read as a sequel, and it rewards that. Each old friendship and each old secret is a piece in play. You feel the weight of the past in every scene where the old companions meet.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Go deeper: the whole of Rupert di Hentzau
About 5 h 40 min to read.Questions about Rupert di Hentzau
What is Rupert of Hentzau about?
It is an adventure novel set in the imaginary kingdom of Ruritania. Rudolf Rassendyll and his friends try to protect the queen and the crown from the daring, unscrupulous nobleman Rupert of Hentzau.
Do I need to read The Prisoner of Zenda first?
It helps a great deal. Rupert of Hentzau is a sequel and builds on the characters and events of the first book, so reading The Prisoner of Zenda first will make the story clearer.
Who is Rupert of Hentzau?
He is a young Ruritanian nobleman, charming, witty and fearless, who has no scruples. He first appears in The Prisoner of Zenda and becomes the main opponent of the heroes in this sequel.
Is Ruritania a real place?
No. Ruritania is an invented central European kingdom created by Anthony Hope. It became so well known that stories set in imaginary royal states are often called Ruritanian romances.
Is Rupert of Hentzau hard to read?
Not very. It is a brisk adventure with short chapters and clear scenes. The plot moves quickly and is easy to follow.
Cite this edition
Hope, Anthony. Rupert of Hentzau. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/rupert-of-hentzau.
Hope, A. (2026). Rupert of Hentzau. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rupert-of-hentzau (Original work published 1898)
Hope, Anthony. Rupert of Hentzau. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rupert-of-hentzau.
@book{hope2026rupert,
author = {Hope, Anthony},
title = {Rupert of Hentzau},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rupert-of-hentzau},
note = {First published 1898}
}