The whole shelf
All free summaries — page 683
47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 683 of 988.
The hidden treasure
Lucy Ellen Guernsey
In the shadow of Henry VIII’s England, a young man discovers a forbidden Bible, igniting a dangerous quest for truth that forces his family to choose between their faith and their lives.
The Huntress
Hulbert Footner
The wilderness is a mirror, and for those who wander into its depths, the reflection is often a brutal and beautiful revelation of the self.
The Kansas University Quarterly, Vol. I, No. 1 (1892)
Various
This inaugural scientific journal documents the pioneering excavation of prehistoric giants from the Kansas chalk and catalogs the diverse insect life of the American West.
The last September
Elizabeth Bowen
A young woman teeters on the edge of a vanishing world, caught between her own awakening desires and the violent, inevitable collapse of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy she calls home.
The Luckiest Man in Denv
C. M. (Cyril M.) Kornbluth
In a world reduced to a vertical, warring bunker, a low-level functionary discovers that his only hope for survival is to master the lethal, shifting game of his superiors.
The making of a woman
Amy Le Feuvre
HOOK A young woman struggles to break free from the stifling control of her grandfather to pursue her artistic ambitions, only to discover that her true purpose lies in service to others.
The mark of Cain
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
A mysterious, silver-haired marshal rides into a lawless railroad town to confront a predatory crime boss, only to discover that the conflict is tied to his own haunted, hidden past.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 265, July 21, 1827
Various
This early nineteenth-century miscellany gathers local history, eccentric profiles, Whitsuntide revels, and global travel in a lively snapshot of Georgian popular culture.
The Moon Maid
Edgar Rice Burroughs
A story of reincarnation and interplanetary conflict, this narrative bridges the gap between a war-weary Earth of the future and the savage, hidden world within the Moon.
The Nursery, May 1877, Vol. XXI. No. 5: A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers
Various
This collection of gentle stories and verse serves as a quiet window into the Victorian childhood, offering moral instruction, natural history, and playful amusements for the very young.
The Passing of the Storm, and Other Poems
Alfred Castner King
The high, snow-bound wilderness of the American West serves as the backdrop for a collection of verses that find, in the isolation of the mountains, a sanctuary for the weary and the repentant. These poems, written at the dawn of the twentieth century, weave together the rugged realities of prospecting with the…
The Pilot and His Wife
Jonas Lie
HOOK A brooding, prideful pilot and his fiercely loyal wife navigate the dangerous, shifting currents of a long-term marriage on the rugged Norwegian coast.
The Plagiarist From Rigel IV
Evan Hunter
A struggling writer buys a mysterious, dirt-cheap typewriter in a pawn shop, only to discover his new machine is a telepathic conduit for an alien tourist from a distant star system.
The Prince and the Pauper, Part 7
Mark Twain
An unlikely pair—a displaced monarch and a disinherited knight—navigate the brutal underworld and deceptive drawing rooms of Tudor England. Their quest is not merely for a crown, but for recognition in a world that denies their existence.
The Saddle Boys at Circle Ranch
Carson, James, Captain
A rancher’s son and his friend face down a notorious band of cattle rustlers in the vast, rugged landscape of the American Southwest.
The Second Funeral of Napoleon
William Makepeace Thackeray
The return of Napoleon Bonaparte’s remains from St. Helena to Paris in 1840 serves as the stage for a meditation on the nature of history, the vanity of pomp, and the absurdity of hero-worship.
The Sentimentalists
Murray Leinster
A young couple on a frontier planet struggles against a predatory corporate system, unaware that two celestial tourists are subtly manipulating their fate for the sake of romance.
The Speedwell Boys and Their Ice Racer
Roy Rockwood
Two industrious brothers build a cutting-edge motor-driven iceboat to dominate the winter racing season, only to find themselves entangled in a dangerous criminal mystery amidst the biting winds of a great blizzard.
The Spy
Richard Harding Davis
A man’s accidental arrival in a volatile foreign port leads him into the path of a desperate, boastful young spy. This encounter ends in a violent confrontation that forces a final, tragic truth from the boy's lips.
The Standard Bearer
S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
A young man’s quiet, uncertain hand attempts to hold the Banner of Blue aloft during Scotland’s turbulent era of religious persecution.
The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic
Arthur Gilman
This chronicle traces the rise of Rome from its mythical, rustic origins to the collapse of its republic, offering a sweeping view of the power and fragility inherent in a nation’s ascent.
The Thirty Years War
Friedrich Schiller
The fire of the Thirty Years' War ignited in the hearts of princes and the desperation of the common people, reshaping the map of Europe through a terrifying collision of faith and raw political ambition. This history endures not merely as a record of battles, but as a masterful, lucid examination of how religious…
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
William Shakespeare
Two friends find their bond tested by love and betrayal in a tale that explores the shifting loyalties of youth. It is a story of hearts misplaced, disguised, and ultimately reclaimed.
The Vision of Elijah Berl
Frank Lewis Nason
A visionary irrigation pioneer struggles to transform the California desert, finding himself trapped between his obsession for progress, a complex romantic entanglement, and the crushing weight of his own illicit financial decisions.
The Wilderness Fugitives
Edward Sylvester Ellis
After the devastation of the Wyoming massacre, three young companions rely on a legendary Mohawk scout to navigate the perilous wilderness and reach the safety of the frontier settlement at Wilkesbarre.
The Wings of Icarus: Being the Life of one Emilia Fletcher
Laurence Alma-Tadema
The wings of Icarus carry this protagonist toward a sun of her own making, only for the wax of her ideals to melt beneath the heat of human frailty.
The Y. M. C. A. boys on Bass Island
Brooks Henderley
A group of resourceful boys attempts to enjoy a summer camp, only to find their wilderness retreat haunted by an elusive, thieving presence.
The Yellow Chief
Mayne Reid
A vengeful survivor of a brutal plantation upbringing leads a Cheyenne war party to annihilate his former masters on the frontier, only to be confronted by a debt of blood he can never escape.
Three People
Pansy
This is a moral tale of three disparate lives—a wealthy heir, a homeless boy, and a neglected soul—colliding in the pursuit of sobriety and purpose. It is a story of how small acts of faith and the discipline of a "pledge" can fundamentally reconstruct a human life.
Treatise on the Anatomy and Physiology of the Mucous Membranes: With Illustrative Pathological Observations
Xavier Bichat
The human body is defined not just by its bones and muscles, but by the continuous, delicate linings that mediate between our internal vitality and the outside world. This foundational work maps the geography of the mucous membranes, treating them as the essential defensive interface of our biological existence.
Two Sides of the Face: Midwinter Tales
Arthur Quiller-Couch
These tales explore the blurred edges of the Cornish landscape, where ancient feuds, hidden inheritances, and spectral warnings rise out of the fog to haunt the modern world.
Two Wonderful Detectives
Old Sleuth
A retired banker entrusts a stranger’s fortune to a detective, launching a decades-spanning search to identify the rightful heir before the money is lost to time. This mystery unfolds through the keen instincts of Jack Alvarez, a master of disguise and deduction.
Vagabondia: 1884
Frances Hodgson Burnett
The charm of this domestic portrait lies in its candid, affectionate gaze at a struggling household of artists, where love and loyalty serve as the only reliable currency. It is a story of resilience, finding grace in the small, chaotic triumphs of a family living on the frayed edges of Victorian society.
Vivisection
Albert Leffingwell
This collection of essays offers a measured, forceful critique of the practice of performing painful experiments on living animals in medical education and research. It stands as a pivotal document in the history of medical ethics and the movement for animal protection.
Wanderings in the Orient
A. M. (Albert Moore) Reese
The vast, shifting landscapes of the early twentieth-century Pacific offer a window into a world of colonial outposts, bustling trade hubs, and remote traditions. This account captures the spirit of exploration during an era of significant global transition.
Water Wonders Every Child Should Know: Little Studies of Dew, Frost, Snow, Ice, and Rain
Jean M. (Jean May) Thompson
This guide to the natural world invites readers to look closely at the hidden, crystalline architecture of the water cycle, revealing the fragile artistry found in the simplest morning dew or the most complex snowflake.
Whalers and whaling
E. Keble (Edward Keble) Chatterton
A chronicle of the peril, industry, and changing technology that defined the global hunt for leviathans, from the hazardous era of wooden sailing ships to the rise of modern steam-powered fleets.
Wild Flowers
Robert Bloomfield
A collection of verse rooted in the fields and hearths of rural England, this work captures the modest joys, provincial customs, and quiet anxieties of the laboring class with gentle, observant affection.
Wind in Her Hair
Kris Neville
The dream of returning to Earth drives a community through four hundred years of space flight, only to meet a crushing, biological reality at the very threshold of their homecoming.
88 Favourite Carols and Hymns for Christmas
Unknown
This collection offers a window into a bygone era of devotion, gathering eighty-eight lyrical pieces that celebrate the Nativity through the rhythmic, often earnest, language of traditional hymnody.
A Bibliography of the writings in Prose and Verse of George Henry Borrow
Thomas James Wise
This exhaustive inventory provides a precise accounting of every known publication, pamphlet, and literary contribution by a singular, wandering scholar. It serves as an essential map for those tracing the bibliographic footprint of a restless, polyglot soul.
A dissertation on the inutility of the amputation of limbs
Johann Ulrich Bilguer
This surgical treatise challenges the historical necessity of removing limbs, offering a bold, evidence-based argument for preserving shattered or mortified body parts through diligent, non-invasive care.
A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse
Amy Levy
This collection of late nineteenth-century poetry offers an intimate, piercing look at the melancholy of urban life and the elusive nature of memory. It is a portrait of a mind observing the world from the periphery of both geography and emotion, capturing the specific, grey beauty of a city that never quite feels…
A Man and a Woman
Stanley Waterloo
A boy rescues a nest of sparrows from a pair of black-snakes, grows into a timber-splitter with a penchant for knight-errantry, and eventually finds a companion who matches his restless, high-spirited mind.
A Prairie Infanta
Eva Wilder Brodhead
A lonely Colorado woman adopts a grieving child, unknowingly tethering her quiet life to the volatile fortunes of a wandering father.
A Short Treatise on Head Wear, Ancient and Modern
Anne C. Goater
This concise study explores the evolution of headwear from ancient necessity to a modern marker of social status, blending historical trivia with the commercial pride of a Victorian-era haberdasher.
A Terrible Secret: A Novel
May Agnes Fleming
A murder at Catheron Royals shatters a noble house, sending ripples of scandal, secret bigamy, and unrequited longing across two continents.
A Trip to Manitoba
Mary Agnes FitzGibbon
A journey across the Canadian wilderness reveals the stark, shifting frontier of a burgeoning nation. This account chronicles the resilience required to traverse the vast prairies and rugged territories of the late nineteenth century.