The whole shelf
All free summaries — page 485
32,123 public-domain books, summarised. Page 485 of 670.
Tales of the Sea, and of Our Jack Tars
William Henry Giles Kingston
A young man’s desire for the sea leads him through harrowing shipwrecks, treacherous encounters, and the quiet moral tests of a life spent on the waves.
The Annes
Marion Ames Taggart
A profound struggle between personal desire and moral duty consumes a young woman caught in an impossible tangle of love and obligation.
The Arnold Bennett Calendar
Arnold Bennett
A daily companion for the mind, this collection offers a year of sharp, pragmatic reflections on literature, human nature, and the rigorous discipline required to truly live.
The Bobbin Boy
William Makepeace Thayer
A humble factory worker rises through sheer force of will and self-education to lead his state. This narrative traces the transformation of an ordinary boy into a statesman through the mastery of odd moments.
The Boy Broker
Frank Andrew Munsey
A courageous Vermont farm boy navigates the cutthroat world of Wall Street, overcoming deception and false imprisonment to prove his worth in the unforgiving machinery of a great city.
The Boy Scouts of Lakeville High
Leslie W. Quirk
A group of high school students navigates the challenges of teenage life, local rivalries, and athletic competition while upholding the principles of the Boy Scout movement.
The Boy Settlers: A Story of Early Times in Kansas
Noah Brooks
Driven by the idealism of the abolitionist movement, three teenage boys leave their Illinois home to claim land in the volatile, untamed territory of mid-1850s Kansas.
The Carter Girls
Nell Speed
When their father falls ill and family finances collapse, five sisters trade their carefree city life for a mountain summer, learning that independence is best earned through hard work and responsibility.
The Cavalier
George Washington Cable
A young Confederate soldier finds his loyalties and his heart tested when he encounters a daring, mysterious woman during the height of the American Civil War.
The Ceremonies of the Holy-Week at Rome
Charles Michael Baggs
The streets of nineteenth-century Rome transform each spring, as the city’s ancient basilicas open their doors to reveal the complex, layered pageantry of the Church’s most solemn week. This guide serves as a bridge for the visitor, translating the silent visual language of ritual into a coherent narrative of faith…
The Claims of Labour: An essay on the duties of the employers to the employed
Helps, Arthur, Sir
Great change is never achieved through abstract theories or grand political gestures alone, but rather through the quiet, persistent practice of duty by those who hold power over the lives of others.
The Cockaynes in Paris
Blanchard Jerrold
A sprawling, cynical portrait of mid-Victorian tourists abroad, this narrative captures the collision between British middle-class affectation and the shifting, often darker realities of Parisian life.
The Cruise of the Midge (Vol. 2 of 2)
Michael Scott
A spirited, salt-sprayed chronicle of Caribbean adventure, shifting between the lighthearted camaraderie of naval life and the stark, moral reckonings of the high seas.
The Demi-gods
James Stephens
A band of angels, having fallen from grace, finds itself wandering the Irish countryside in the company of a wily, impoverished tramp and his daughter, discovering the strange comforts and harsh realities of human existence.
The Divine Comedy by Dante, Illustrated, Purgatory, Volume 1
Dante Alighieri
A weary traveler emerges from the shadows of hell to undertake a rigorous, hopeful ascent toward spiritual restoration. This journey serves as a profound meditation on human frailty, the necessity of patience, and the possibility of redemption.
The Doré Bible Gallery, Volume 3
Unknown
These accounts capture the sweeping drama of ancient Israel, weaving together the lives of judges, prophets, and kings through moments of profound sacrifice, fierce battle, and the complex weight of divine promise.
The Eagle's Nest: Ten Lectures on the Relation of Natural Science to Art, Given Before the University of Oxford, in Lent Term, 1872
John Ruskin
The boundary between looking at the world and truly seeing it forms the heart of this inquiry into the purpose of art and the limits of scientific pursuit.
The Female Soldier
Anonymous
HOOK Driven by the disappearance of her husband, a determined woman disguises herself as a man to traverse the world, enduring the brutality of war and the hazards of the sea while protecting her secret.
The Forest King: Wild Hunter of the Adaca
Hervey Keyes
A rugged frontiersman and his resilient bride carve a life of quiet defiance out of the untamed Mohawk Valley, forever haunted by the shadow of the wilderness and the echoes of colonial conflict.
The Game Fish, of the Northern States and British Provinces: With an account of the salmon and sea-trout fishing of Canada and New Brunswick, together with simple directions for tying artificial flies, etc., etc
Robert Barnwell Roosevelt
A passionate angler leads a expedition through Northern wildernesses, insisting that true health and character are forged along fast-flowing salmon streams.
The Girl from the Big Horn Country
Mary Ellen Chase
A spirited ranch girl leaves her Wyoming home to navigate the rigid social expectations of an elite New England boarding school.
The glamour of prospecting
Fred C. (Frederick Carruthers) Cornell
The search for hidden wealth in the unforgiving deserts of South Africa proves that fortune is rarely found, but the pursuit itself is an enduring adventure.
The Go Ahead Boys and the Racing Motor-Boat
Ross Kay
Four adventurous teenagers embark on a high-speed summer cruise, only to find themselves entangled with river thieves, stolen bonds, and a high-stakes motor-boat race on the St. Lawrence River.
The Great Commission. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IV
Charles Henry Mackintosh
The call to a life of faith requires a radical, inward departure from worldly values and a total reliance on the completed work of Christ. This examination of Christian identity offers a rigorous, uncompromising path for those seeking to understand the nature of conversion and the responsibilities of the believer.
The Holy Earth
L. H. (Liberty Hyde) Bailey
The earth is not merely a resource to be mined, but a sacred inheritance requiring stewardship, responsibility, and a fundamental shift in how humanity defines its relationship to the planet.
The Interdependence of Literature
Georgina Pell Curtis
This survey traces the hidden threads connecting the world’s great literary traditions, revealing how ancient myths and moral tales flowed across continents to shape the collective consciousness of humanity.
The Last Stroke: A Detective Story
Lawrence L. Lynch
This classic mystery follows an astute investigator as he unravels the murder of a village schoolmaster, uncovering a trail of deception that stretches from a quiet lakeside town to the bustling streets of London.
The letters of Madame de Sévigné
Sévigné, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de
A woman’s devotion to her distant daughter finds its most enduring expression in these pages, where maternal longing turns into a masterpiece of French literary history. Through vivid, intimate reports from the heart of the seventeenth-century French court, she chronicles a world of shifting fortunes, social…
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 344 (Supplementary Issue)
Various
This collection serves as a vibrant, multifaceted window into the literary landscape of 1829, capturing the era’s fascination with romantic poetry, moralizing prose, and the exquisite craftsmanship of the period’s lavish annuals.
The Motor Maids' School Days
Katherine Stokes
A spirited group of high school girls finds their quiet seaside life transformed into a race against thieves when they stumble upon a cache of stolen jewels.
The Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch
Laura Lee Hope
HOOK The DeVere sisters trade the bustling streets of New York for the untamed American West, filming cinematic adventures amid cattle stampedes, prairie fires, and unexpected encounters with local legends.
The Myth of the "Manuscript Found," or the Absurdities of the "Spaulding Story": Eleventh Book of the Faith-promoting Series. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints
Unknown
The "Spaulding story" has long served as a primary argument against the divine origins of the Book of Mormon, claiming it was plagiarized from a fictional romance. This book systematically dismantles that theory.
The Nursery, October 1877, Vol. XXII. No. 4: A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers
Various
This nineteenth-century magazine offers a window into the Victorian nursery, blending gentle moral instruction with vivid observations of the natural world. It serves as a charming, time-bound artifact of early children’s publishing.
The Opened Shutters: A Novel
Clara Louise Burnham
This story of personal transformation follows a young woman who retreats to the Maine coast to heal her broken spirit and ultimately discovers a capacity for profound love.
The Oriental Republic of Uruguay at the World's Columbian Exhibition, Chicago, 1893
Carlos María de Pena
This document serves as a formal, comprehensive prospectus of Uruguay’s economic and social landscape, prepared to introduce the nation to an international audience at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It acts as a bridge between a young, ambitious republic and the industrial global stage of the late nineteenth century.
The Rise and Fall of Prohibition: The Human Side of What the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act Have Done to the United States
Charles Hanson Towne
Prohibition is often remembered as a dry, legislative era, but for many it was a time of profound, deeply personal upheaval. This account captures the frustration of a society forced to reconcile its democratic ideals with a rigid and unpopular law.
The Rival Heirs
A. D. (Augustine David) Crake
This historical narrative follows a young Anglo-Saxon heir surviving the brutal realities of the Norman Conquest to find redemption on the distant battlefields of the First Crusade.
![Cover of The Romance of Zion Chapel [3d ed.]](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-romance-of-zion-chapel-3d-ed-richard-le-gallienne.webp)
The Romance of Zion Chapel [3d ed.]
Richard Le Gallienne
Theophil Londonderry arrives in the dismal provincial town of Coalchester to breathe new life into the dying "New Zion" chapel, only to find his own life transformed by an inescapable, tragic love triangle. This turn-of-the-century novel explores the collision between rigid tradition and the yearning for beauty, as…
The Second Latchkey
C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson
A young woman seeking escape from a stagnant life enters a dangerous, romantic gamble with a mysterious stranger, only to discover that their shared future is tethered to a shadowy, criminal past.
The Solution of the Pyramid Problem
Robert Ballard
The pyramids of Egypt were not merely tombs, but sophisticated instruments of geometry and land surveying designed to restore order to a landscape erased by the annual flooding of the Nile.
The Spirit of Lafayette
James Mott Hallowell
A champion of the French and American Revolutions serves as the enduring symbol for a global struggle against autocracy. This call to action frames the defense of democracy as a moral imperative across the ages.
The Tapestry Room: A Child's Romance
Mrs. Molesworth
A snowy terrace, a mysterious raven, and a room hung with old tapestries serve as the threshold to a world where childhood curiosity blurs the line between dreaming and waking.
The Tryal of William Penn & William Mead for Causing a Tumult: at the Sessions Held at the Old Bailey in London the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 5th of September 1670
Unknown
A courtroom drama of conscience, this account captures the collision between a defiant defendant and a tyrannical bench, setting a foundational precedent for the independence of the jury.
The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage
Almroth Wright
This treatise serves as a polemical rejection of the woman suffrage movement, arguing that the desire for the vote is a product of resentment rather than a legitimate claim to natural rights.
The Von Toodleburgs
F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
This satirical novel captures the provincial ambitions and moral pretensions of a mid-19th-century New York community caught in the grip of a fraudulent get-rich-quick scheme. Through the lives of the modest Toodleburgs and the status-obsessed Chapmans, it exposes how greed and social climbing can warp the values…
The Wanderer
Fanny Burney
A young woman escapes the terror of the French Revolution, only to find herself a penniless refugee in England. She must navigate a rigid society that views her very existence as a dangerous mystery.
The Westerners
Stewart Edward White
This chronicle of the American frontier captures the brutal transition from the wild, lawless Black Hills of the 1870s to the encroaching order of industry. It traces the intersecting lives of pioneers, miners, and opportunists during a decade of feverish expansion.
Three Plays by Granville-Barker: The Marrying of Ann Leete
Harley Granville-Barker
These plays capture the quiet, stifling friction of a society rigidly divided by class, where private integrity is constantly traded against the demands of public appearance.