During the quarter century between 1894 and 1920, Anthony Hope was England's rival to Alexandre Dumas, with his books The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau matching the popularity of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Man in the Iron Mask — those and other adventure novels earned the humble Anglican clergyman's son a life of luxury and a knighthood, and made him a popular and highly influential author for much of the first half of the 20th century. Anthony Hope Hawkins was born in an Anglican rectory in the London suburb of Hackney, the son of the Rev. E.C. Hawkins. He grew up in poor surroundings, attending public school and Oxford University on scholarships, and pursued a legal education. For four years, he saw little success as a barrister and was forced to reside in his father's rectory, where he took up journalism, authoring stories to earn some kind of an income, in publications such as the St. James Gazette. He also started writing plays and novels in the late 1880s, financing his first book's publication (under the name…  » Read more