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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 45 of 714.
The Wall Between
Sara Ware Bassett
A long-standing feud between two New Hampshire neighbors crumbles when an unexpected guest bridges the divide, proving that even the most stubborn traditions of hate cannot withstand the warmth of genuine connection.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë
A young mother arrives at a desolate, crumbling manor seeking refuge, only to find her guarded silence provoking the intense curiosity—and eventual obsession—of a local farmer. This is a harrowing, unflinching portrait of a woman’s struggle to preserve her integrity and her son’s future against the destructive…
Far Past the Frontier
James A. (James Andrew) Braden
Two boys from Connecticut leave behind a future of farm labor to pursue wealth and independence in the untamed Ohio wilderness. Driven by ambition and a longing for adventure, they face the perils of the frontier and the complicated politics of the indigenous tribes.
Mary Jane's City Home
Clara Ingram Judson
The Merrill family trades the familiarity of their old home for the bustling, concrete expanse of Chicago. Through the eyes of young Mary Jane, the city becomes a landscape of endless discovery, from neighborhood backyards to expansive public parks.
The Canterville Ghost
Oscar Wilde
Haunted mansions are rarely a match for a practical American family armed with stain remover and a complete lack of superstition.
The Book of All-Power
Edgar Wallace
A young engineer is drawn into a perilous web of Russian revolution and superstition, where a mysterious, fabled tome becomes the ultimate prize for those desperate to survive the collapse of an empire.
The Telegraph Messenger Boy
Edward Sylvester Ellis
The story of a young man who climbs from humble beginnings to professional success, this narrative serves as a testament to the virtues of diligence, integrity, and physical courage in a challenging world.
The War in South Africa, Its Cause and Conduct
Arthur Conan Doyle
The British Empire confronts a crisis of reputation, seeking to justify its military actions in South Africa against a wave of international condemnation. It is an argument for national honor, written from the conviction that the war was both necessary and humanely waged.
The Wonder
J. D. (John Davys) Beresford
A young boy exhibits an intelligence that surpasses all human understanding, yet he finds himself entirely alone, trapped in a world that lacks the capacity to comprehend his existence.
The Madigans
Miriam Michelson
A household of motherless sisters navigates the trials of childhood in a rough-and-tumble Nevada mining town, perpetually at war with their own eccentricities and the rigid expectations of their social superiors.
Critias
Plato
This incomplete dialogue presents a haunting, foundational myth of human civilization, contrasting a virtuous, primitive Athens with the opulent, hubristic empire of Atlantis. It serves as a philosophical exploration of power, decline, and the fragility of societies.
The tortoiseshell cat
Naomi Royde-Smith
A young woman finds herself adrift in the complex social currents of 1920s London, navigating the demands of professional life and the intense, often confusing attractions of those around her.
The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books VIII-XV
Ovid
This vast tapestry of ancient myth chronicles a world in constant flux, where human lives are fragile, divine whims are absolute, and every ending is merely the prologue to a transformation.
The Status Civilization
Robert Sheckley
A man wakes up on a prison planet with no memory of his past crime, only to discover that on this world, murder is a path to social advancement. He must navigate a brutal, lawless society to uncover the truth about his own identity and the secret history of two worlds.
Best Russian Short Stories
Unknown
This collection gathers seminal Russian short fiction, offering a window into a literary tradition defined by unvarnished naturalism, profound psychological depth, and an instinctive, radical empathy for the disinherited.
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
A woman of extraordinary beauty discovers that her social grace is a currency that depreciates with time. She must navigate a ruthless elite that offers comfort only as long as she remains useful.
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851
Various
This volume offers a wide-angled lens into the mid-19th-century world, capturing the vibrant intellectual and social energy of 1851 through reports, literary critiques, and cultural snapshots. It serves as a fascinating, multifaceted time capsule of a rapidly changing global society.
Gardening Indoors and Under Glass: A Practical Guide to the Planting, Care and Propagation of House Plants, and to the Construction and Management of Hotbed, Coldframe and Small Greenhouse
F. F. (Frederick Frye) Rockwell
Bringing winter indoors with the fragrance of blossoms and the vibrant green of life requires little more than consistent attention and a fundamental understanding of how plants grow.
Original sonnets on various subjects
Anna Seward
A delicate, formal collection of verses, this volume captures the refined sensibility of the late eighteenth century through the dual lenses of original sonnets and classical adaptation.
A Retrospect
James Hudson Taylor
A chronicle of faith and travel, this work traces the formation of a missionary movement through the lens of personal reliance on divine provision. It serves as an intimate record of a life defined by spiritual conviction and the practical challenges of nineteenth-century life in China.
Thought-Forms
Annie Besant
Thoughts are not merely fleeting abstractions, but tangible, living entities that ripple through the unseen worlds. This text reveals how human emotions and ideas manifest as colored, vibrating forms that shape the reality around us.
In Nesting Time
Olive Thorne Miller
The soul of the bird is not found in a specimen case, but in the patient, observant study of a living, breathing individual.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XIV, South Carolina Narratives, Part 4
United States. Work Projects Administration
These accounts offer the raw, unvarnished memories of individuals who lived through the final years of American slavery, capturing the textures of their daily survival and the profound upheaval of their transition to freedom.
Virginia of Elk Creek Valley
Mary Ellen Chase
The mountains of Wyoming offer a sanctuary for young hearts seeking adventure and self-discovery. In this gentle tale, city-bred friends find that the vast, open West is the ultimate classroom for courage and character.
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation
Johan Huizinga
A quiet, scholarly voice examines a titan of the Renaissance, capturing the intricate dance between a man of intellect and a world caught in the throes of violent change.
Jack O' Judgment
Edgar Wallace
The law is often a blunt instrument, but the shadow known as Jack o' Judgment promises a swifter, sharper reckoning for those who believe themselves untouchable. This brisk, atmospheric mystery pits a ruthless criminal mastermind against an elusive vigilante whose identity remains a tantalizing enigma until the…
Richard II: Makers of History
Jacob Abbott
Before the rise of modern constitutional power, a ten-year-old boy inherits a crown and is swept into a world of bloody peasant revolts, ruthless family rivals, and the glittering, dangerous pageantry of medieval chivalry.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
HOOK A fop by day and a savior by night, a mysterious English hero risks his life to snatch doomed aristocrats from the blade of the French Revolution.
The Albert Gate Mystery: Being Further Adventures of Reginald Brett, Barrister Detective
Louis Tracy
A seasoned barrister with a penchant for analytical puzzles finds himself ensnared in a web of international intrigue, following the sudden, mysterious disappearance of a promising young diplomat.
The history of magic
Éliphas Lévi
The shadows of the ancient world hold the secrets of the modern mind, revealing how the hidden arts have shaped the course of human history. Through a blend of philosophy and myth, this exploration traces the evolution of magic from the dawn of civilization to the revolutions of the nineteenth century.
Starman's Quest
Robert Silverberg
HOOK A young man leaves the confined, lifelong isolation of a deep-space starship to search for his runaway brother on an Earth he has never known.
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 5 (of 5)
Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
A collection of witty, cynical, and often ribald tales, these stories explore the complexities of human desire, deceit, and moral contradiction among the French courtly elite.
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
A hardened man learns the true value of human connection when three spirits force him to confront his past, his present, and a devastating future.
Perils and Captivity: Comprising The sufferings of the Picard family after the shipwreck of the Medusa, in the year 1816
Pierre-Raymond de Brisson
The expeditions in which it is attempted to explore unknown and distant oceans are usually those most pregnant with disaster. Yet, land possesses its own perilous forms of suffering, as revealed in these accounts of survival.
A Plea for the Criminal: Being a reply to Dr. Chapple's work: 'The Fertility of the Unfit', and an Attempt to explain the leading principles of Criminological and Reformatory Science
James Leslie Allan Kayll
A criminal is treated not as a monster, but as a human problem society helps create and can still help mend.
The Stock-Feeder's Manual: the chemistry of food in relation to the breeding and feeding of live stock
Cameron, Charles Alexander, Sir
A detailed scientific exploration of livestock nutrition, this text bridges the gap between mid-19th-century laboratory chemistry and the practical, economic realities of running a productive farm.
A Chosen Few: Short Stories
Frank R. Stockton
These tales explore the uncanny intersections of ordinary life and the absurd, where gravity can be switched off and a simple trip to a dry-goods store spirals into domestic catastrophe.
Rollo in Scotland
Jacob Abbott
HOOK A young boy travels through the rugged, storied landscapes of Scotland with his uncle, learning the delicate balance between youthful independence and the responsibilities of a well-behaved traveler.
Steve and the Steam Engine
Sara Ware Bassett
A teenager’s secret act of rebellion becomes a journey through the history of steam power, blending the mechanical marvels of the nineteenth century with the moral challenges of growing up.
Life and sport in China: Second Edition
Oliver George Ready
This collection of vignettes offers an intimate, firsthand look at the daily routines, social customs, and colonial lifestyle of a European resident in China at the turn of the 20th century. It captures a vanished world of treaty-port society, river travel, and sporting tradition.
Monopolies and the People
Charles Whiting Baker
As industrial giants rise and competition falters, the urgent question remains whether the government should fight these monopolies or bring them under its permanent control. This inquiry seeks to resolve the tension between private profit and the public good.
The Life of Gordon, Volume II
Demetrius Charles Boulger
A study of duty and imperial hesitation, this account follows a legendary soldier through his final, fatal efforts to stabilize a crumbling frontier. It captures the tension between individual resolve and the inertia of government.
Boy Scouts in the North Sea
G. Harvey (George Harvey) Ralphson
Four American Boy Scouts find themselves adrift in a war-torn North Sea, navigating a captured submarine while pursued by spies and enemy patrols.
Forty-Five Years of Digitizing Ebooks: Project Gutenberg's Practices
Gregory B. Newby
A foundational history of digital literature, this account details how decades of volunteer effort transformed the printed word into a freely accessible, global archive.
Orthodoxy
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
A man discovers the world is not a puzzle to be solved, but a story to be told; he sets out to find a philosophy of his own, only to realize he has accidentally rediscovered Christianity.
Flip's "Islands of Providence"
Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston
The shifting tides of fortune are merely hidden stepping stones to those who trust in the unseen, a truth learned by a young man facing his first, most bitter trials.
The Renewal of Life
Margaret Warner Morley
A quiet, earnest guide for parents, this work advocates for the early, transparent, and scientific education of children regarding the origins of life and the physical realities of human development.
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 2 (of 5)
Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
The narratives of courtly life captured in this volume reveal the volatile intersection of desire, reputation, and wit. Through stories of obsession and secret encounters, the social fabric of the sixteenth-century elite is laid bare.