The whole shelf
All free summaries — page 599
42,801 public-domain books, summarised. Page 599 of 892.
The Merry Anne
Samuel Merwin
The Merry Anne is a sun-drenched, brisk adventure that captures the vanishing spirit of the Great Lakes through the eyes of a young captain and his beloved schooner. It turns a quiet, atmospheric portrait of regional life into a gripping tale of loyalty, law, and the perils of the water.
The Mysteries of Paris, illustrated with etchings, Vol. 6
Eugène Sue
Beneath the glittering facade of nineteenth-century Paris lies a desperate, hidden world of misery, where a powerful prince descends into the shadows to serve as an unseen hand of justice and redemption.
The Mysterious Three
William Le Queux
A brush with a nameless stranger sets off a cascade of secrets, dragging an ordinary gentleman into a dark web of forgery, hidden mummies, and high-stakes peril.
The Owls' House
Crosbie Garstin
A wild, sweeping tale of a Cornish farm boy’s transformation from a local smuggler into a Barbary general, driven by an insatiable hunger for life and a haunting connection to his ancestral home.
The Peace of Roaring River
George Van Schaick
A lonely man in the Canadian wilderness and a desperate woman in New York become unwitting pawns in a cruel deception, leading to a perilous journey through the frozen North.
The phantom hunter
Edward Sylvester Ellis
After a young man is wrongfully hanged for a murder he did not commit, he returns to the frontier settlement in disguise to unmask the true culprit and save his reputation.
The Quiver 3/1900
Anonymous
This volume is a turn-of-the-century collection of religious, domestic, and informative literature designed for the edification and moral instruction of the British reading public. It serves as a window into the Victorian era’s intersection of faith and daily life.
The Ranch Girls at Rainbow Lodge
Margaret Vandercook
Three spirited young women navigating the untamed Wyoming frontier learn that true independence requires more than just stubborn willpower; it demands the courage to accept help and the wisdom to protect those in need.
The Rubaiyat of Omar Cayenne
Gelett Burgess
A biting, rhythmic satire of the early twentieth-century publishing industry, this work uses the familiar structure of a famous Persian poem to skewer the vanity, commercialism, and literary mediocrity of its day.
The Saint of the Speedway
Ridgwell Cullum
The rugged mountains and gold-rich streams of the Canadian North serve as the backdrop for a tense, atmospheric tale of vengeance, hidden identities, and the transformative power of love in the unforgiving wilderness.
The Sapphire Signet
Augusta Huiell Seaman
The mystery of a forgotten journal leads a group of young friends into the heart of a Revolutionary War conspiracy. Through their investigation, a housebound girl finds the path to both personal discovery and physical healing.
The Seven Darlings
Gouverneur Morris
Facing sudden poverty, seven orphaned siblings turn their Adirondack estate into a high-end inn, discovering that managing wealthy guests is as challenging as navigating their own burgeoning romances.
The Stone Axe of Burkamukk
Mary Grant Bruce
These retold legends preserve the vanishing oral traditions of Australia’s original inhabitants, blending the majesty of natural forces with the intimate, often tragic lives of those who walked the land before the arrival of outsiders.
The Story of Charles Strange: A Novel. Vol. 1 (of 3)
Wood, Henry, Mrs.
A young man’s quiet life in the law is upended when he finds himself ensnared in the volatile, dark secrets of an aristocratic household. This is a story of how quickly the past catches up to the present.
The Story of the Mince Pie
Josephine Scribner Gates
The ingredients of a Christmas treat come to life to share their histories while waiting for the dawn. This whimsical tale explores the origins of holiday traditions through the eyes of the very items found in a kitchen.
The Texican
Dane Coolidge
A drifting cowboy finds himself caught between the unforgiving justice of the range and a radical political awakening in the rugged Arizona territory.
The Trail of a Sourdough: Life in Alaska
May Kellogg Sullivan
Gold and ice define the rhythm of life in this rugged collection of tales. It captures the desperate, driving hunger for fortune that sent thousands into the Alaskan wilderness at the turn of the twentieth century.
The training of an infantry company
E. (Edward) Kirkpatrick
The professional soldier’s craft is an artificial one, requiring the systematic replacement of natural human instinct with the cold, deliberate logic of the fire fight.
The Universal Counterfeit and Altered Bank Note Detector, at Sight
Henry C. Foote
A keen eye is the only barrier between an honest transaction and a fraudulent loss in an era of unreliable currency. This methodical guide turns the complex art of bank-note engraving into a set of accessible, visual principles.
The White Spark: A New Book, Giving Out a New Philosophy and the Mysteries of the Universe. The Handbook of the Millennium and the New Dispensation
Orville Livingston Leach
The universe is a vast, mechanical clockwork of spirit and energy, and you hold the key to its hidden machinery. This radical synthesis of natural philosophy, dietary reform, and utopian politics promises to unlock the mysteries of life, health, and cosmic order.
The Winning of Popular Government: A Chronicle of the Union of 1841
Archibald MacMechan
The winning of popular government was a hard-fought evolution, transforming Canada from a fractured, rebellious collection of colonies into a self-governing, unified nation through the crucible of political strife and constitutional experiment.
The Wreck of the Red Bird: A Story of the Carolina Coast
George Cary Eggleston
HOOK Three boys shipwrecked on a remote coastal island must rely on their wits, science, and newfound resilience to survive until they can engineer their own rescue.
The wreck on the Andamans
Joseph Darvall
When two troop-ships are shattered by a hurricane in the Bay of Bengal, their crews and passengers find themselves cast away on an uncharted Andaman Island, where they must build a new society from the wreckage.
The Wright Brothers
Anonymous
This account chronicles the lives and mechanical ingenuity of two brothers who transformed the dream of human flight into a tangible reality. It traces the trajectory of their invention from a bicycle shop in Ohio to the international stage.
Three Little Women: A Story for Girls
Gabrielle E. (Gabrielle Emilie) Jackson
This story follows a family of girls navigating the sudden loss of their father’s income, finding their strength through enterprise, animal rescue, and an unwavering, if sometimes comically overbearing, household matriarch. It is a portrait of resilience in the face of genteel poverty.
To-morrow and to-morrow ... a novel
Stephen McKenna
HOOK The shadow of the Great War looms over a generation of survivors who return home to a fractured England, only to find that peace has brought its own bitter, unrecognizable consequences.
Told After Supper
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
Ghosts are never more tiresome than when they insist on rehearsing their clichés, but this collection of tales suggests that the living are often much more ridiculous than the spectres they fear.
Town Geology
Charles Kingsley
The ground beneath a city is not merely a foundation for bricks and mortar, but a vast, ancient record waiting to be read. Through simple observation, the most common stones reveal the dramatic history of the world.
Traits of American Humour, Vol. 1 of 3
Unknown
This collection gathers the spirited, rowdy, and often surreal accounts that defined the early American frontier experience, capturing the voices of a nation still finding its footing. It offers a mosaic of regional dialects, tall tales, and sharp-witted observations that celebrate the sheer audacity of life in the…
Under the Stars and Bars
Walter A. (Walter Augustus) Clark
A soldier recalls his four years of service in the Confederate infantry, documenting the camaraderie, humor, and grim realities of camp life alongside his fellow Oglethorpes.
Waverley
Walter Scott
A young soldier’s romantic illusions of glory collide with the harsh, divided reality of 1745 Scotland. This foundational work of historical fiction captures the passing of an era through the eyes of a man caught between two worlds.
Workhouse Characters, and other sketches of the life of the poor
Margaret Wynne Nevinson
The workhouse, for many, is a final, cold destination where the architecture of state bureaucracy often crushes the individual spirit. These accounts illuminate the humanity trapped within that system, revealing the dignity and heartbreak of those forced to navigate a society built on rigid class divisions.
A Day with Samuel Taylor Coleridge
May Byron
A poet’s inner life and outward struggle converge in one day of domestic tension and creative transcendence. This portrait of a legendary mind captures the fragile balance between genius and the mundane.
A good woman
Louis Bromfield
A mother’s suffocating devotion clashes with her son’s desperate longing for autonomy in this somber study of domestic tyranny. The story traces the destructive legacy of a woman who believes her possessiveness is piety.
A Monk of Fife: Being the Chronicle Written by Norman Leslie of Pitcullo, Concerning Marvellous Deeds That Befell in the Realm of France, in the Years of Our Redemption, MCCCCXXIX-XXXI
Andrew Lang
A young Scottish exile finds his destiny intertwined with the miraculous rise and tragic fall of Joan of Arc, serving as her faithful companion through the perils of the Hundred Years' War.
A Ring of Rubies
L. T. Meade
Nineteen-year-old Rosamund Lindley finds her life of domestic poverty transformed when a reclusive, eccentric cousin bequeaths her a mysterious ruby ring, setting her on a path of independent discovery and unexpected family responsibility.
A Sketch of the Causes, Operations and Results of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1856
Stephen Palfrey Webb
In the lawless heat of 1856 San Francisco, a city overrun by ballot-stuffers and killers, thousands of citizens organized a shadow government to reclaim their streets from anarchy. This is an eyewitness account of that uprising.
A Year with a Whaler
Walter Noble Burns
The siren call of a newspaper advertisement lures an adventurous green hand into the brutal, salt-crusted reality of a year-long whaling expedition.
Abraham Lincoln
James Russell Lowell
A steady, reasoned defense of a leader once doubted, this essay captures the transformation of a wartime president from an unproven politician into a figure of profound moral and national authority. It stands as a vital account of how democracy navigates the crucible of internal conflict.
Adrift in the City
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
A boy cast out by a cruel stepfather must navigate the dangers of the city and uncover a dark conspiracy to reclaim his rightful inheritance.
Advanced Toy Making for Schools
David M. Mitchell
This guide provides a structured, industrial approach to crafting wooden playthings within a school environment. It transforms the manual arts classroom into a space where students learn production methods, professional tool use, and the essentials of finishing.
Agincourt: A Romance: The Works of G. P. R. James, Volume XX
G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
The path of duty often winds through shadows, but for a true knight, the light of honor—and the love of a devoted heart—serves as an unerring guide toward victory and peace.
All Aboard: A Story for Girls
Fannie E. (Fannie Ellsworth) Newberry
The world is vast, but the most profound discoveries often happen within the confines of a single ship’s deck. Through the eyes of twin sisters, a long sea voyage transforms from a simple trip into a life-altering journey of character, faith, and unexpected human connection.
All But Lost: A Novel. Vol. 1 of 3
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
The tensions of Victorian life collide in this sprawling social drama, where the domestic struggles of a working-class family intertwine with the romantic and financial schemes of the landed gentry.
Among the An-ko-me-nums, or Flathead Tribes of Indians of the Pacific Coast
Thomas Crosby
A nineteenth-century missionary recounts his decades of labor among the indigenous tribes of the Pacific Coast, detailing the complex cultural shifts that followed the arrival of settlers and Christian influence.
At War with Society
James M'Levy
The shadows of mid-nineteenth-century Edinburgh hold more than just grime; they contain a relentless, unspoken war between a seasoned detective and the criminal class he observes with both grit and surprising empathy.
Bert Wilson, Wireless Operator
J. W. Duffield
The young wireless operator Bert Wilson finds his technical expertise and nerves of steel tested against the perils of the high seas in this classic tale of early twentieth-century adventure.
Biology
Edmund B. (Edmund Beecher) Wilson
The biological sciences aim to understand the order of nature within the living world, yet they remain humble before the persistent mysteries of existence. This lecture serves as a foundational inquiry into the mechanisms of life and the nature of organic adaptation.