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34,093 public-domain books, summarised. Page 653 of 711.

Cover of The Half-Brothers

The Half-Brothers

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

A child of privilege, sheltered by his father’s wealth and his aunt’s devotion, remains blind to the quiet, selfless love of his older half-brother until a freezing mountain storm forces a final, tragic reckoning.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The haunter of the ring

The haunter of the ring

Robert E. (Robert Ervin) Howard

A lingering curse from a past life threatens a young couple, until a man with a dark history intervenes to confront the occult architect of their misery.

Crime, Thrillers and Mystery6 min read
Cover of The Keeper of the Door

The Keeper of the Door

Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell

A young woman’s desperate act of mercy to shield a suffering friend from despair sets in motion a lifelong burden of secrecy and self-reproach.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Last Call: A Romance (Vol. 3 of 3)

The Last Call: A Romance (Vol. 3 of 3)

Richard Dowling

This narrative explores the precarious intersection of artistic ambition, psychological obsession, and the haunting weight of past regrets. It follows the tumultuous lives of two friends whose bond is tested by professional rivalry, personal tragedy, and a dark, lingering secret.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Literature of Arabia: With Critical and Biographical Sketches by Epiphanius Wilson

The Literature of Arabia: With Critical and Biographical Sketches by Epiphanius Wilson

Unknown

This collection serves as a vibrant, panoramic gateway into the classical and medieval literary traditions of the Arabic-speaking world. Through a blend of heroic legend, folklore, and lyrical poetry, it offers a window into the values, passions, and imaginative landscapes of a storied civilization.

Literature - Other6 min read
Cover of The Lonesome Trail

The Lonesome Trail

John G. Neihardt

A lonesome wind blows through these stories, where the vast, indifferent beauty of the American plains serves as a stage for human desperation, fleeting dreams, and the quiet tragedy of lives lived on the margins.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Lord's Coming. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. II

The Lord's Coming. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. II

Charles Henry Mackintosh

This collection explores the practical, daily life of faith through the lens of a coming Redeemer, urging readers to align their homes, discipleship, and hearts with an eternal perspective.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of The Man Who Stole A Meeting-House: 1878, From "Coupon Bonds"

The Man Who Stole A Meeting-House: 1878, From "Coupon Bonds"

J. T. (John Townsend) Trowbridge

This story captures a peculiar American frontier humor, blending a tall-tale premise with a sharp, empathetic portrait of domestic struggle. It is a work of regional realism that finds profound weight beneath the absurdity of a man attempting to claim a community church as his own property.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Mandarin's Fan

The Mandarin's Fan

Fergus Hume

A crumbling estate, a missing Chinese fan, and a string of suspicious deaths pull a young man into a dangerous game of greed and hidden history.

Crime, Thrillers and Mystery6 min read
Cover of The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Restored in Conformity With the Recently Discovered Remains

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Restored in Conformity With the Recently Discovered Remains

James Fergusson

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus stands as a singular puzzle of antiquity, a work once ranked among the seven wonders of the world for its peerless design. This analysis attempts to resolve the long-standing architectural mystery of its true form by reconciling ancient textual descriptions with the physical fragments…

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The meaning of pictures

The meaning of pictures

John C. Van Dyke

These lectures offer a clear-eyed guide to appreciating the visual language of painting, arguing that a picture’s true value lies in its decorative beauty and the artist’s unique personality rather than its literal subject matter.

Art6 min read
Cover of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 383, August 1, 1829

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 383, August 1, 1829

Various

This collection offers a vibrant, eclectic window into the intellectual and social life of 1829, blending historical sketches, literary anecdotes, and the practical curiosities of a rapidly modernizing world.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 556, July 7, 1832

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 556, July 7, 1832

Various

This collection serves as a vibrant, kaleidoscopic window into the intellectual and cultural preoccupations of 1832, blending serious historical reflection with the lighthearted, ephemeral amusements of its day.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 557, July 14, 1832

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 557, July 14, 1832

Various

This anthology offers a window into the intellectual life of 1832, blending biographies, travelogues, and practical guides into a varied portrait of a rapidly changing British society.

Art6 min read
Cover of The Mother

The Mother

Norman Duncan

A mother lives two lives: one a devoted, sheltering sanctuary for her son, the other a desperate, hidden existence in the city's underbelly. Their bond endures as she struggles to give him a future she cannot share.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Native Races of East Africa

The Native Races of East Africa

Wilfrid D. (Wilfrid Dyson) Hambly

Anthropological study of the early twentieth century often relied on travelogue and observation to catalog the distinct customs of distant cultures. This work surveys the traditions, social structures, and daily lives of several major East African groups, aiming to bring an ethnographic perspective to geographical…

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The Outdoor Chums After Big Game

The Outdoor Chums After Big Game

Quincy Allen

Four inseparable friends trade their local lake for a rugged Pacific Northwest wilderness, facing grizzly bears, stampeding herds, and treacherous rapids in a quest for adventure.

Adventure5 min read
Cover of The Pansy Magazine, Vol. 15, Dec. 1887

The Pansy Magazine, Vol. 15, Dec. 1887

Various

A monthly magazine for the Victorian home, this collection of stories, poems, and lessons reflects the earnest moral instruction and lively domestic interests of a nineteenth-century American childhood.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The Pier-Glass

The Pier-Glass

Robert Graves

A collection of verse caught between the haunted stillness of the past and the sharp, bright arrival of a new, unsettling clarity. It navigates the thin partition between the living and the spectral.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Poetical Works of David Gray: A New and Enlarged Edition

The Poetical Works of David Gray: A New and Enlarged Edition

David Gray

A young poet confronts the fragility of his own existence while seeking to immortalize the quiet, rain-washed beauty of his Scottish home. His work remains a haunting testament to the ache of unfulfilled promise and the sanctity of nature.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of The Quest

The Quest

Pío Baroja

A young man arrives in the sprawling, indifferent landscape of Madrid, searching for a place to belong amid the city’s crushing poverty and forgotten corners. He must navigate a life defined by hunger, fleeting ambitions, and the raw struggle for survival.

Novels6 min read
Cover of The Ranger Boys and the Border Smugglers

The Ranger Boys and the Border Smugglers

Claude A. LaBelle

Three young Maine forest rangers venture to the Canadian border to intercept a dangerous ring of fur and jewel smugglers.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Rhymer

The Rhymer

Allan McAulay

The life of a poet is a tempest, and those pulled into his orbit often find their own quiet paths shattered by the force of his genius and the wreckage of his desires.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Saddle Boys of the Rockies

The Saddle Boys of the Rockies

Carson, James, Captain

The Saddle Boys of the Rockies follows two young friends as they navigate the rugged, mysterious landscape of the American West, encountering wildlife, rivalries, and the secrets of a rumbling, legendary peak.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Scarlet Stigma: A Drama in Four Acts

The Scarlet Stigma: A Drama in Four Acts

Nathaniel Hawthorne

This stage adaptation transforms a classic meditation on secret guilt into a visceral, gothic drama, where a hidden sin manifests as a physical mark of torment. It maps the internal fracture of a man who preaches righteousness while harboring a ruinous truth.

Plays/Films/Dramas6 min read
Cover of The Second Violin

The Second Violin

Grace S. (Grace Smith) Richmond

When a family’s domestic life is disrupted by illness, they discover that their greatest strength lies not in their individual talents, but in the shelter and kindness they offer to those in need.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Seven Ages of Childhood

The Seven Ages of Childhood

Carolyn Wells

HOOK This collection of poems traces the quiet, universal metamorphosis of a human life, following the journey from the wordless curiosity of the cradle to the transformative bloom of first love.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The Seven Cardinal Sins: Envy and Indolence

The Seven Cardinal Sins: Envy and Indolence

Eugène Sue

This work explores the moral decay inherent in two distinct vices, tracing how the corrosive influence of secret cravings can shatter lives while testing the limits of human resilience.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of The Sisters Rondoli, and Other Stories

The Sisters Rondoli, and Other Stories

Guy de Maupassant

The Sisters Rondoli, and Other Stories offers a sharp, unsentimental window into the private lives and public vanities of nineteenth-century French society. These tales reveal the small, often sordid, dramas that unfold behind the closed doors of the middle class.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of The Slave of the Mine

The Slave of the Mine

Bracebridge Hemyng

This adventure tale follows a resilient young Englishman through a gauntlet of kidnappings, gambling dens, and forced labor in the diamond mines of Brazil. It is a brisk, turn-of-the-century narrative of high stakes and persistent, lethal villainy.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Story of the Two Bulls

The Story of the Two Bulls

John R. (John Rogers) Bolles

A deacon’s hidden pride leads to a Sunday morning catastrophe when his obsession with livestock pits two rival bulls against each other, turning his home into a chaotic battlefield of shattered glass and broken furniture.

Humour7 min read
Cover of The Sweet and Touching Tale of Fleur & Blanchefleur: A Mediæval Legend Translated from the French

The Sweet and Touching Tale of Fleur & Blanchefleur: A Mediæval Legend Translated from the French

Mrs. Leighton

A journey of devotion and daring, this medieval legend follows two children separated by royal decree who traverse the known world to reunite. It is a timeless testament to the persistence of love against the tyranny of circumstance.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of The Truth About German Atrocities: Founded on the Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages

The Truth About German Atrocities: Founded on the Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages

Anonymous

A grave historical document meticulously examines the conduct of invading forces during the early months of the Great War, seeking to hold a modern power accountable for systematic violations of international law.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The Two Marys

The Two Marys

Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

HOOK A daughter discovers her late father led a secret life, unraveling a complex web of hidden identities, lost inheritances, and the enduring power of family secrets.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Valley

The Valley

Richard Stockham

The silence of a dying, desperate planet finds its only answer in the quiet, fragile persistence of two travelers who refuse to trade their humanity for a lie.

Novels6 min read
Cover of The White Heart of Mojave: An Adventure with the Outdoors of the Desert

The White Heart of Mojave: An Adventure with the Outdoors of the Desert

Edna Brush Perkins

Two women trade the suffocating geometry of city walls for the vast, untamed expanse of the Mojave Desert, finding a haunting, beautiful, and sometimes terrifying clarity within the silence of the American West.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 132, March, 1909

The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 132, March, 1909

Various

The world is a stage of unpredictable peril and bizarre discovery, where the boundary between the mundane and the miraculous dissolves at every turn. These collected dispatches map a globe brimming with untamed environments and human eccentricity.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of The World Before Them: A Novel. Volume 2 (of 3)

The World Before Them: A Novel. Volume 2 (of 3)

Susanna Moodie

This nineteenth-century domestic drama follows a resilient young woman navigating the complexities of social class, unrequited love, and the mystery of her own origins. It is a story of personal transformation set against the backdrop of a changing English countryside.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Wrong Woman

The Wrong Woman

Charles D. (Charles David) Stewart

A young woman lost on the Texas plains finds shelter with a solitary sheep-herder, setting off a quiet, transformative journey toward mutual discovery and home.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Young Lieutenant

The Young Lieutenant

Oliver Optic

A young soldier, elevated by duty and the chaos of the American Civil War, navigates the shifting lines of loyalty and survival while accompanied by a puzzling, flamboyant companion.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Theism and Humanism: Being the Gifford Lectures Delivered at the University of Glasgow, 1914

Theism and Humanism: Being the Gifford Lectures Delivered at the University of Glasgow, 1914

Arthur James Balfour

How can we trust our own reason if it is merely the accidental byproduct of blind physical forces? This inquiry examines the fragile foundations of human knowledge, morality, and beauty.

Philosophy & Ethics6 min read
Cover of Thomas Hart Benton's Remarks to the Senate on the Expunging Resolution

Thomas Hart Benton's Remarks to the Senate on the Expunging Resolution

Thomas Hart Benton

A fiery orator seeks to strike a stain from the record of history, championing the legacy of a embattled president against his congressional detractors.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Three Bright Girls: A Story of Chance and Mischance

Three Bright Girls: A Story of Chance and Mischance

Annie E. Armstrong

When a family’s fortune vanishes overnight, three sisters must trade their life of luxury for the quiet, challenging dignity of making their own way in the world.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of To Alaska for Gold

To Alaska for Gold

Edward Stratemeyer

The Klondike gold rush serves as the stage for a desperate, high-stakes gamble for security. Two brothers leave behind a life of rural struggle to confront the frozen, unforgiving wilderness of the North.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Too Rich: A Romance

Too Rich: A Romance

Adolf Streckfuss

Wealth, social standing, and the crushing weight of public perception collide in this Victorian-era German romance. It is a story of how material fortunes often mask—or intensify—the poverty of the human spirit.

German Literature5 min read
Cover of Top of the Ladder: Marine Operations in the Northern Solomons

Top of the Ladder: Marine Operations in the Northern Solomons

John C. (John Carsten) Chapin

Through mud, jungle, and relentless enemy fire, Marines carve a strategic foothold into the Solomon Islands, turning a grueling campaign into a definitive victory in the Pacific theater.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Towards the Goal

Towards the Goal

Ward, Humphry, Mrs.

The Allied effort in the Great War is a chronicle of grim resolve, documenting the transformation of a nation as it mobilizes its people and industry toward a singular, desperate victory.

History - American7 min read
Cover of True Stories of Girl Heroines

True Stories of Girl Heroines

Evelyn Everett-Green

Through desperate sieges, daring prison breaks, and dangerous political intrigues, these young women defy the expectations of their time to secure the safety of those they love.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
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