Zendan Vanki

What if you woke up and had to be a king? That's the delicious premise at the heart of this 1894 swashbuckler. Rudolf Rassendyll is a perfectly comfortable, slightly aimless English gentleman until he discovers he bears an uncanny resemblance to the Crown Prince of Ruritania, a small Alpine kingdom teetering on the edge of civil war. When the rightful heir is spirited away to a dungeon, Rassendyll is persuaded to step into the throne, and the crown, purely as a diplomatic formality. But nothing is simple in Ruritania. He must face the notorious Rupert of Hentzau, a duelist with a smile like a silver blade. He must navigate treacherous political currents. And perhaps most dangerously, he must confront his own heart, which has inconveniently chosen to fall for the woman the fake king is supposed to marry. The Prisoner of Zenda is sheer, glittering entertainment: witty, romantic, and unapologetically improbable. It invented the mistaken-identity romance and has been adapted for film five times because the premise is simply irresistible. If you've ever wondered what it would mean to live someone else's life, and love someone you shouldn't, this is the book.