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All free summaries — page 539
44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 539 of 920.
Facing the chair
John Dos Passos
This is an urgent, searing examination of a miscarriage of justice, documenting how two men were condemned by a society terrified of their radical politics rather than by evidence of their guilt.
Flora Lyndsay
Susanna Moodie
A claustrophobic voyage across the Atlantic tests the endurance of a young family, revealing the fragile, often absurd, social hierarchies of a ship filled with dreamers, scoundrels, and the desperate.
Four and Twenty Beds
Nancy Casteel Vogel
A witty, candid look at the chaos of mid-century hospitality, where running a motel requires the endurance of a saint, the skills of a tradesman, and the nosiness of a born novelist.
From Adam's Peak to Elephanta
Edward Carpenter
A thoughtful traveler wanders through the landscapes and inner lives of Ceylon and India, seeking the intersection of ancient mysticism and modern social struggle.
God Hath Spoken
Harris J. (Harris Jeremiah) Dark
God has spoken, and the path to salvation is clear for those willing to heed the message. This collection of sermons serves as an urgent call to return to the foundational practices of the early church.
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 5, May 1842
Various
This 1842 periodical captures the mid-nineteenth-century American imagination, blending Gothic terror, social instruction, and literary criticism into a singular, vibrant portrait of an era’s intellectual life.
Hell: Warm Words on the Cheerful and Comforting Doctrine of Eternal Damnation
Robert Green Ingersoll
The doctrine of eternal damnation is an affront to human decency, a dark relic of barbarism that must be replaced by the light of science and the practical work of improving life on earth.
Highland Legends
Lauder, Thomas Dick, Sir
HOOK Through the mist of the Scottish Highlands, these tales weave together the brutal realities of clan feuds, the weight of ancient superstitions, and the enduring power of historical memory.
Holbein
S. L. (Samuel Levy) Bensusan
This portrait of a master artist chronicles the life and enduring influence of a sixteenth-century genius whose precise, observant brush captured the faces of the Tudor age.
Hold Up Your Heads, Girls! Helps for Girls, in School and Out
Annie H. Ryder
Handsome is that handsome does—hold up your heads, girls!" This Victorian-era guidebook offers a blend of pragmatic advice and idealistic encouragement to young women transitioning from the schoolroom to the responsibilities of adult life.
I Spy
Natalie Sumner Lincoln
A dangerous game of espionage and sudden death unfolds within the high-society circles of wartime Washington, D.C. Secrets collide as a young woman finds her loyalties and her heart tested by a man who is not who he claims to be.
If Sinners Entice Thee
William Le Queux
The truth about a brutal killing and a forced engagement lies buried under the high-stakes glamour of the Riviera, where secrets are the only currency that matters.
In the Line of Battle: Soldiers' Stories of the War
Unknown
This collection of first-hand accounts provides a raw, unvarnished look at the Great War through the eyes of the men who fought it. It serves as a vital historical record of the daily lives and extreme trials of British soldiers.
In the Track of the Bookworm
Irving Browne
The true book-worm is defined not by the size of his library, but by the depth of his devotion to the hunt and the quiet companionship of his shelves. This collection of essays and ballads offers an intimate look at the peculiar, often obsessive, and deeply rewarding life of the bibliophile.
Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Anthony Hope
Anthony Hope
A comprehensive catalog of a prolific storyteller’s bibliography, this index serves as an essential map to the romantic adventures, political intrigues, and social comedies that defined an era of English popular fiction.
Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud?: The Evidence Given by Sir A.C. Doyle and Others Drastically Examined
Joseph McCabe
The persistence of belief often thrives in the dark, but a steady light of inquiry can reveal the mechanisms of the illusions that sustain it.
Joyce
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
A young woman raised in a modest Scottish cottage is suddenly claimed by an upper-class father, only to find that stepping into a higher social rank demands the sacrifice of her heart’s true devotion.
King Henry VIII
William Shakespeare
The rise and fall of powerful figures in the court of a mercurial monarch reveal the heavy price of ambition and the fragile nature of royal favor.
Leerie
Ruth Sawyer
Sheila O’Leary, a nurse nicknamed "Leerie" for her ability to bring light to those in the darkest of circumstances, navigates the rigors of hospital life and the personal tolls of the Great War. This chronicle follows her journey from a sequestered sanitarium to the front lines of France, where she seeks to heal…
Leila at Home: a continuation of Leila in England
Ann Fraser Tytler
A young girl’s return to the comforts of home and family life becomes a profound journey of character, testing her resilience as she faces the sudden and life-altering challenge of total blindness.
Life of Sir Walter Scott, with Abbotsford Notanda
Robert Chambers
A legendary novelist’s life unfolds from wild border walks and sudden literary triumph to catastrophic financial ruin and an unyielding, honorable struggle to clear his debts.
Little Dinners With the Sphinx, and Other Prose Fancies
Richard Le Gallienne
This collection of lyrical, reflective prose sketches captures the fleeting beauty of romantic idealism, memory, and the bittersweet transition from youth to maturity. These vignettes serve as a meditation on the persistence of dreams in a world that demands practical compromise.
Little Stories of Married Life
Mary Stewart Cutting
In the small, quiet dramas of the American suburban home, the greatest battles are often fought in the kitchen, the parlor, or the silence between two people who have promised to love one another forever.
London (Ancient and Modern) from the Sanitary and Medical Point of View
George Vivian Poore
The sprawling, historical evolution of a global metropolis is rarely viewed through the lens of its own waste and its healers, yet here the physical health of a city and the development of its medical institutions are presented as inseparable companions.
Mary's Meadow, and Other Tales of Fields and Flowers
Juliana Horatia Ewing
A gentle collection of stories and garden-themed correspondence, this work celebrates the quiet, transformative power of tending to the earth and the beauty of sharing one's harvest with the world.
Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 2: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen
Mme. (Jeanne-Louise-Henriette) Campan
An intimate eyewitness account from the heart of the French monarchy, this narrative captures the fading splendor of Versailles and the personal unraveling of a queen trapped by tradition and changing times.
Miss Stuart's Legacy
Flora Annie Webster Steel
The legacy of Miss Stuart is not a simple inheritance of wealth, but a heavy debt of circumstance that forces those she left behind to confront the collision between colonial duty and individual integrity.
Molly Brown of Kentucky
Nell Speed
This tale of youthful spirit and family loyalty follows a young woman’s perilous journey through the early, uncertain days of the Great War, seen through the eyes of those who love her. It is a portrait of resilience, capturing a world in transition through the lens of domestic affection.
Molly Brown's College Friends
Nell Speed
HOOK Amid the shadow of the Great War, a group of college friends reunites to navigate romance, espionage, and the struggle to remain useful in a changing world.
My American Diary
Clare Sheridan
A restless, observant artist traverses the American continent and Mexico with her young son, capturing the social pulse of a post-war world with striking candor and an unvarnished eye.
Nancy first and last
Amy Ella Blanchard
A young woman navigates the loss of her inheritance and the shattering of a youthful engagement, only to find her true self through an odyssey that spans continents and survives the crucible of war.
Notes and Queries, Number 191, June 25, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
This collection of 1853 correspondence serves as a vibrant clearinghouse for Victorian intellectual curiosity, where antiquaries, linguists, and historians swap obscure facts to satisfy their restless, scholarly appetites.
Old People and the Things That Pass
Louis Couperus
The shadow of a violent, long-buried secret looms over a family of aging aristocrats, revealing how the past relentlessly shapes the present. This is a story of how time, like a slow-moving tide, eventually erodes even the most carefully guarded facades.
On Conducting (Üeber Das Dirigiren)
Richard Wagner
The conductor’s baton is not merely a tool for keeping time, but a vessel for the soul of the music. This treatise argues that the art of performance requires deep, instinctive connection to the composer's intent.
Our Little Brazilian Cousin
Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
HOOK Follow the adventures of a young Brazilian boy as he explores the lush Amazonian wilderness and discovers the vast, vibrant wonders of his native land.
Petroleum
Albert Lidgett
Petroleum captures the industrial fervor of the early twentieth century, mapping the transition from coal-fired reliance to a global economy powered by liquid energy. It serves as both a historical record of oil’s rapid expansion and a technical primer on the infrastructure that shaped the modern world.
Pine Needles
Susan Warner
A group of young people gathers in the woods to find beauty and moral clarity, discovering how historical accounts of faith can illuminate their modern lives.
Practical school discipline
Ray Coppock Beery
Teachers today often wrestle with the same classroom management challenges as their predecessors a century ago. This volume serves as a systematic manual for navigating the varied behavioral instincts of students through practical, psychological intervention.
Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1840, 1842, and 1843, vol. 2 of 2
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
A lyrical travelogue that captures the fading grandeur of post-Napoleonic Europe, this work maps the intersection of rugged mountain landscapes, classical art, and the quiet heartbreak of a nation struggling for independence.
Re-creations
Grace Livingston Hill
A college student abandons her degree to save her struggling family, only to find that transforming a run-down house creates a sanctuary for everyone she loves.
Recollections of Thomas D. Duncan, a Confederate Soldier
Thomas D. (Thomas Dudley) Duncan
The young soldier’s perspective of the American Civil War serves as both a private memorial to a lost cause and a rugged account of life under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest. It captures the harrowing, visceral nature of combat through the eyes of one who grew up in the saddle.
Ruins and Old Trees, Associated with Memorable Events in English History
Mary Roberts
HOOK Standing as silent witnesses to the rise and fall of dynasties, these ancient English trees link the vibrant landscape of the present to the triumphs and tragedies of a turbulent past.
Shaving Made Easy: What the Man Who Shaves Ought to Know
Anonymous
This practical manual serves as a definitive guide for the early 20th-century man seeking to master the art of self-shaving, transforming a daily chore into a ritual of hygiene and self-reliance. It demystifies the mechanics of the blade and the chemistry of the lather, offering a disciplined approach to grooming…
Sister Gertrude: A Tale of the West Riding
D. F. E. Sykes
This is a candid, semi-autobiographical chronicle of a fall and eventual redemption, rooted in the rugged industrial landscapes and social hierarchies of late 19th-century Yorkshire.
Squinty the Comical Pig: His Many Adventures
Richard Barnum
Squinty is a pig with a distinctive, permanently squinting eye and a penchant for exploration. He discovers that the world outside his pen is full of wonder, danger, and unexpected aerial transport.
Starvecrow Farm
Stanley John Weyman
In the wake of Waterloo, a young woman’s impulsive elopement descends into a desperate nightmare of crime and kidnapping. She finds herself trapped in a remote farmhouse, fighting for survival against those who would use her as a pawn.
State of the Union Addresses
William McKinley
These annual reports document a pivotal transformation in American life, tracing the nation’s rapid transition from an inward-looking republic to a global power at the dawn of the twentieth century.
Stories of Romance
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
This collection gathers five distinct narratives that explore the intensity of human desire, the pull of the mysterious, and the fragility of romantic bonds. It captures the atmosphere of nineteenth-century storytelling, where the stakes of the heart are often measured against life-or-death circumstances.