Anthony Hope 
Quisante (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

In this 1900 novel of romance and adventure, a young outsider, Alexander (Sandro) Quisanté, who owes his somewhat precarious position in society to the patronage of Sir Richard Benyon, seeks to woo a woman above his station—the beautiful May, daughter of the widowed Lady Attlebridge. Despite herself, May responds to something in her very unsuitable suitor.

Circa l’autore

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins (1863-1933), who published under the name Anthony Hope, was a prolific English novelist and playwright.  His best-known works are the swashbuckling adventures Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel, Rupert of Hentzau (1898).  Knighted in 1918 for his wartime service with the Ministry of Information, his autobiography Memories and Notes appeared in 1927.