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All free summaries — page 290
42,801 public-domain books, summarised. Page 290 of 892.
Joyce of the North Woods
Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa) Comstock
Caught in a loveless marriage within a harsh logging camp, a young woman finds her path toward a new identity inextricably linked to an enigmatic newcomer.
Knights and their days
Dr. (John) Doran
The history of chivalry is a long, tangled tale of holy vows, earthly blood, and the inevitable decay of high ideals into vanity and farce.
Manners for Men
Mrs. Humphry
The path to becoming a gentleman is paved with self-denial and fine attention to the smallest details of social conduct. Mastery of these rituals offers the only reliable shield against the awkwardness of public life.
Marie
Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin
A young officer’s honor is tested when he is caught between his oath to the Empress and a debt of gratitude to the charismatic, bloodthirsty rebel claiming her throne.
Mars is My Destination
Frank Belknap Long
The future of humanity’s first interplanetary colony hangs by a thread as industrial giants wage a shadow war for control of Mars. One man must navigate this deadly landscape of sabotage, corporate conspiracy, and lethal ambition.
Monsieur de Camors
Octave Feuillet
A portrait of a man who rejects the moral constraints of his era, this novel explores the cold, calculating pursuit of ambition and the hollow satisfaction that follows it. It is a sophisticated study of cynicism, social artifice, and the high cost of living without principle.
On the dodge
Will James
A drifting cowboy finds himself ensnared in a web of mistaken identity when he pursues a horse thief. The ensuing struggle for justice pits his wits against the law and his own desperate circumstances.
Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics
John Dewey
Moral action is not a static set of rules, but the dynamic, intelligent fulfillment of one’s role within a living social world. This inquiry redefines the relationship between individual desire and the common good.
Pastor Pastorum
Henry Latham
A calm, methodical study of the life of Jesus, focusing on his deliberate methods as a teacher and his long-term strategy for educating his followers.
Pax Vobiscum
Henry Drummond
True spiritual rest is not a fleeting emotion or a gift bestowed by magic, but a harvest grown through the patient, methodical application of specific internal habits.
Phyllis of Philistia
Frank Frankfort Moore
The intersection of Victorian morality, social reputation, and the volatile nature of romantic attraction defines this brisk, witty social comedy. It is a sharp examination of how high-minded principles collide with the messy realities of the human heart.
Queen Elizabeth: Makers of History
Jacob Abbott
This account of a legendary sovereign strips away the romantic veneer of the Elizabethan era to reveal the cold, calculated, and often lonely mechanics of sixteenth-century power.
Ralestone Luck
Andre Norton
HOOK The Ralestone siblings return to their ancestral Louisiana home to reclaim their heritage, only to find that history—and a long-lost talisman—still holds the power to change their lives.
Rembrandt: A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Painter with Introduction and Interpretation
Estelle M. (Estelle May) Hurll
The eyes of the Dutch master reveal a world where the sacred and the ordinary are one, illuminated by a singular command of light and shadow.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885
Various
This weekly periodical serves as a vital bridge between late 19th-century industrial progress and the eager, inquisitive public, documenting the rapid evolution of technology, engineering, and natural science at the dawn of the modern age.
Sergeant York And His People
Sam K. (Sam Kinkade) Cowan
An Appalachian marksman finds himself thrust from the isolation of a Tennessee mountain valley into the chaotic trenches of the Great War, where his quiet resolve becomes a catalyst for one of military history's most improbable feats.
Seven English Cities
William Dean Howells
The quintessential Victorian observer travels through Britain with an American’s curiosity, finding as much to admire in the humblest street corner as in the grandest cathedral. He discovers that beneath the surface of formal English life lies a complex, often stubborn, and deeply human character.
Short-story masterpieces, Vol. 2
Unknown
This collection offers a curated window into the nineteenth-century French imagination, balancing the psychological depth of realism with the ethereal grace of romanticism. It gathers short-story masterpieces that capture the shifting spirit of a nation, moving from the shadow of the guillotine to the quiet…
St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 13, May 1886, No. 7.: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks
Various
This vintage magazine collection offers a window into the nineteenth-century Victorian imagination, blending earnest moral instruction with the playful curiosity of childhood. It serves as a bustling, multi-faceted portal to a lost world of intellectual and imaginative growth.
State of the Union Addresses
Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant
These addresses offer a direct, authoritative window into the American presidency during the volatile years of Reconstruction. They serve as a primary record of a nation transitioning from civil conflict to an era of industrial growth and continental expansion.
Studies in Literature
John Morley
The mind of a critic is a landscape where literature, history, and political philosophy converge. These collected essays map the intellectual terrain of the nineteenth century through the lens of a deeply thoughtful, historically conscious observer.
The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp
W. H. (William Henry) Davies
A wanderer chronicles his years of life on the margins of society, moving between the casual wards of England and the freight trains of America with a poet’s eye and a vagabond’s spirit.
The Beginnings of New England: Or the Puritan Theocracy in its Relations to Civil and Religious Liberty
John Fiske
The seeds of modern self-government were sown not in open fields of tolerance, but in the rigid, earnest soil of a Puritan theocracy.
The best stories of Sarah Orne Jewett, Volume 2 (of 2)
Sarah Orne Jewett
A solitary child protects a rare bird, while aging women find grace in the quiet corners of New England. These stories capture the fading rhythms of rural life with profound, patient empathy.
The Bible, King James version, Book 40: Matthew
Anonymous
This account follows the life, ministry, and ultimate resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, presented as the fulfillment of ancient prophecy. It stands as a foundational text of Western culture, documenting a transformative religious movement.
The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, September 1879
Various
This collection of essays offers an intimate window into the late Victorian intellectual landscape, capturing the diverse, restless, and deeply inquisitive spirit of 1879 through the lens of a prominent literary and political periodical.
The Count of Narbonne: A Tragedy, in Five Acts
Horace Walpole
The tragic ruin of a house built on murder unfolds in this intense drama, where long-buried secrets and a father’s desperate ambition collide with the claims of a rightful heir. It is a cautionary tale of how guilt, when left to fester, eventually dismantles even the most secure of dynasties.
The Devil's Elixir, Vol. 1 (of 2)
E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) Hoffmann
A young monk consumes a forbidden elixir, unleashing a dark, supernatural inheritance that fractures his identity and pulls him into a vortex of obsession, madness, and wandering guilt.
The Flight of the Shadow
George MacDonald
It is a harrowing, meditative exploration of the soul’s capacity for both dark obsession and redemption. This narrative examines the devastating toll of hidden lives and the restorative power of love.
The Great Salt Lake Trail
Henry Inman
This work documents the rugged evolution of the American West, blending historical analysis with the firsthand frontier experiences of a veteran army officer and a legendary scout.
The Headsman
James Fenimore Cooper
A young woman’s love for a man of "inferior" birth and a prince’s search for a lost son converge in the dangerous, craggy heights of the Swiss Alps.
The humour of Germany
Unknown
German wit is a vast, eccentric landscape where the surreal meets the domestic, and where a philosopher’s sneeze is treated with the same gravity as a king’s decree. It is a collection of curiosities that finds the absurd in the everyday.
The humour of Spain
Unknown
A vast, centuries-spanning collection of wit, this anthology gathers the sharpest voices of the Iberian Peninsula to reveal how a people found laughter in the face of pride, poverty, and the absurd.
The Island Pharisees
John Galsworthy
A journey toward truth often begins with a single, uncomfortable question that breaks the spell of a comfortable life.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 4: Acadia and Quebec, 1616-1629
Unknown
These chronicles capture the fragile beginnings of New France, where missionary zeal collided with the brutal realities of colonial struggle and the vast, unyielding wilderness.
The jute industry
Thomas Woodhouse
The jute industry represents the complete mechanical and agricultural journey of one of the world’s most essential fibers, detailing how a humble annual plant becomes the ubiquitous cloth of global commerce.
The Land of The Blessed Virgin
W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham
This evocative travelogue captures the fading grandeur and vibrant spirit of Andalusia, moving through sun-drenched cities, desolate mountains, and the lives of those caught between ancient tradition and modern decay.
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 06: Nero
Suetonius
The final scion of the Domitii, an emperor who traded his crown for the stage and his dignity for the stage-light, descends into a madness that would eventually consume the city he claimed to own.
The love-affairs of the Condés (1530-1740)
H. Noel (Hugh Noel) Williams
A sweeping chronicle of the Bourbon-Condé dynasty, this account traces two centuries of political intrigue, battlefield valor, and the volatile romantic entanglements that shaped the French monarchy.
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Sabha Parva
Kisari Mohan Ganguli
The second book of the great Indian epic presents a harrowing transformation of glory into ruin, charting the thin line between a righteous kingdom and a catastrophic fall. It is a study of hubris, the seduction of power, and the inescapable weight of one’s own character.
The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale Founded Upon the Mysteries of Electricity
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
A young boy accidentally summons a powerful supernatural force of electricity, gaining godlike tools that thrust him into a whirlwind of global adventure and moral consequence.
The Modern American Pistol and Revolver
Arthur Corbin Gould
The American handgun began as a tool of necessity, but in these pages, it is transformed into an instrument of precision. This volume documents the transition of the pistol and revolver from mere defensive weapons to the primary implements of a burgeoning national sport.
The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow
Anna Katharine Green
A young woman is struck down by an arrow in a crowded museum, leaving no trace of her killer. An elderly detective must solve the impossible crime while the true culprit hides in plain sight.
The Old Adam: A Story of Adventure
Arnold Bennett
The sudden, restless urge of a provincial businessman to conquer the London stage leads him into a labyrinth of celebrity, high-stakes finance, and the intoxicating pursuit of a woman who represents everything his quiet life lacks. This is a story of the "old Adam"—the irrepressible, impulsive, and often absurd…
The Plays of W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
These four dramas explore the precarious line between respectability and ruin, tracing the fates of men who cultivate double lives behind masks of charm or piety.
The Quiver, 11/1899
Anonymous
This multifaceted periodical captures the spirit of late Victorian moral earnestness, blending missionary zeal, historical reflection, and domestic fiction into a singular, pious cultural tapestry.
The Red City: A Novel of the Second Administration of President Washington
S. Weir (Silas Weir) Mitchell
In a city gripped by revolutionary fervor and the chilling threat of yellow fever, an exiled French nobleman seeks refuge, love, and a new identity within the quiet, Quaker-influenced society of Washington’s America.
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge) Pinches
This study offers an accessible, scholarly survey of the ancient Mesopotamian spiritual landscape, tracing the evolution of its pantheon, complex creation myths, and the enduring influence of these beliefs on subsequent civilizations.