The whole shelf
All free summaries — page 689
47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 689 of 988.
The blacker the berry
Wallace Thurman
This is a stark, unflinching portrait of a woman’s struggle with internalized racism, set against the backdrop of 1920s Harlem. It examines the painful social hierarchies within the Black community, where skin tone dictates belonging.
The Case of the Golden Bullet
Auguste Groner
HOOK A humble, overlooked detective unravels the impossible murder of a professor, ultimately finding that the truth of the crime lies hidden within a macabre, golden secret.
The Coquette's Victim: Everyday Life Library No. 1
Charlotte M. Brame
A young man of noble birth and chivalric imagination risks his reputation and freedom to shield a woman he mistakenly believes is in distress. His idealism, however, is no match for the calculated manipulation of a socialite.
The Cruise of the Dolphin
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
The sea is a constant, alluring presence for the boys of Rivermouth, promising adventure to those brave enough to test its depths. But when a day of youthful exploration turns into a tragedy, the world changes forever.
The Cruise of the Nonsuch Buccaneer
Harry Collingwood
A young captain leads a daring rescue mission into the heart of the Spanish Main, risking everything to reclaim his brother from the clutches of a brutal empire.
The Delinquent (Vol. IV, No. 2), February, 1914
Various
This collection of reports and editorials serves as a vital historical snapshot of the American prison reform movement at the dawn of the twentieth century. It documents a period of shifting philosophies where the rigid, punitive carceral systems of the past began to face scrutiny from a burgeoning class of…
The Development of Certain Tendencies in Modern Opera: Thesis for the degree of Bachelor of Music
Kathryn Eleanor Browne
Opera, once a spectacle of vocal artifice, evolved into a complex dramatic medium where orchestra and stagecraft hold equal weight with the voice. This study examines that transformation by tracing the shifting balance of musical forms across centuries of repertoire.
The Draycott murder mystery
Molly Thynne
A murder in a desolate farmhouse pulls a quiet community into a web of blackmail and hidden pasts. This classic puzzle turns on the intersection of fragile secrets and the desperate measures taken to protect them.
The Drummer Boy
J. T. (John Townsend) Trowbridge
A fiery fourteen-year-old leaves his family sitting-room for the Union barracks, trading his dark curls for a recruit’s crop and a place at the front line of a nation tearing itself apart.
The eleventh hour in the life of Julia Ward Howe
Maud Howe Elliott
A portrait of tireless vitality, this memoir captures a legendary figure who, well into her nineties, remained a vibrant force of intellect, activism, and infectious joy until her final breath.
The Fire and the Sword
Frank M. Robinson
The allure of a perfect world can be a death sentence for those who do not belong. This story explores the psychological cost of encountering a utopia that rejects its observers.
The Frog Who Would A Wooing Go
Charles H. (Charles Henry) Bennett
A headstrong frog ignores his mother’s warnings and embarks on a disastrous romantic quest, only to find that the world outside his quiet pond is far more dangerous than he imagined.
The gray wolf's daughter
Gertrude Warden
A young woman trapped in a loveless home finds herself caught between a noble suitor and the man she truly loves, only to be swept into a dark, supernatural conspiracy of vengeance.
The Great Green Diamond
Inspector Stark
A stolen, cursed temple relic draws an explorer, a detective, and a band of desperate criminals into a web of vengeance, betrayal, and violence across New York City.
The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 15, February 18, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls
Various
This weekly dispatch, written for the children of 1897, captures the pulse of a rapidly changing world, bridging the gap between historical events and the curious minds of young readers.
The Heart of the Desert (Kut-Le of the Desert)
Honoré Morrow
HOOK A young woman is abducted by a man who bridges two worlds, forcing her to confront the raw, unforgiving majesty of the American Southwest and the hidden depths of her own character.
The History of the Remarkable Life of John Sheppard: Containing a Particular Account of His Many Robberies and Escapes
Daniel Defoe
A young carpenter turned thief captures the imagination of eighteenth-century London by repeatedly escaping the most secure prisons in the city. His audacity transforms him from a common criminal into a legend of impossible ingenuity.
The Imperial Crown
Wilhelm Raabe
An aging scribe in 1453 Nuremberg reflects on a life marked by the shifting tides of empires, the weight of historical memory, and the enduring, tragic power of a childhood promise.
The Jade God
Alan Sullivan
The past is a living thing in this haunting mystery, where a house holds the memory of a murder and a cursed object exerts a strange, malevolent pull on all who enter its orbit.
The Judgment Books: A Story
E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson
An artist attempts to capture his soul on canvas, only to find that his portrait reflects a darkness he thought he had outgrown.
The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, March 1844: Volume 23, Number 3
Various
This mid-nineteenth-century literary miscellany captures the restless intellectual spirit of its era, blending philosophical inquiry, travelogue, and social critique into a dense, multifaceted portrait of the Victorian imagination.
The Lady of the Barge: The Lady of the Barge and Others, Part 1
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
Rough-hewn bargemen, petty jealousies, and the unpredictable currents of Thames river life collide in a sly comedy of mistaken intentions, domestic terror, and performative drowning.
The lazy detective
George Dilnot
The indolent detective lives by the creed that efficiency is the only way to safeguard his precious leisure time. When a high-stakes jewel robbery disrupts his routine, he is forced into a relentless pursuit of a gentleman thief.
The Light That Lures
Percy James Brebner
The life of a young Virginian is upended by the chaos of the French Revolution when he ventures into the heart of Paris to rescue a woman from the shadow of the guillotine.
The Lighthouse
R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
A young sailor’s journey from forced service to the construction of a legendary lighthouse reveals the resilience required to tame the sea and secure a peaceful home.
The Lonely
Judith Merril
A transmission from the stars captures a haunting, failed encounter between two civilizations, revealing how easily even the most desperate hopes can be lost to the abyss of misunderstanding.
The Maidens' Lodge
Emily Sarah Holt
This story of family ambition, manners, and moral discovery in the early 18th century portrays the lives of young women navigating the rigid social structures of Queen Anne’s England. It is a quiet, character-driven work that finds its power in the contrast between worldly vanity and internal transformation.
The Master Rogue: The Confessions of a Croesus
David Graham Phillips
This account follows a self-made millionaire as he ruthlessly consolidates his fortune, his family, and his social standing, only to find himself hollowed out by the very ambition that built his empire.
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 19: Back Again to Paris
Giacomo Casanova
A restless traveler navigates the salons and intrigues of 18th-century Europe, treating every encounter—whether a high-stakes wager or a romantic pursuit—as a stage for his own performative wit.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 389, September 12, 1829
Various
This nineteenth-century miscellany offers a panoramic view of its era, blending architectural history, criminal anthropology, and whimsical fiction into a single, accessible volume. It invites readers to sample the diverse intellectual curiosities of 1829.
The Moth Decides: A Novel
Edward Alden Jewell
HOOK A young woman struggles to find her footing among the shifting loyalties and budding romances of a Michigan summer resort. Her quest for certainty reveals the fragile boundary between youthful independence and the pull of domestic stability.
The negro workers
Eugene V. (Eugene Victor) Debs
This document captures a 1923 address delivered to an audience of African American workers in Harlem. It serves as an urgent, impassioned plea for class solidarity, arguing that racial liberation is inextricably linked to the dismantling of the capitalist system.
The New Book of Martyrs
Georges Duhamel
The hospital wards of the Great War become the lens through which a witness records the quiet, agonizing, and often transcendent transformation of men into martyrs.
The Pest
W. Teignmouth (William Teignmouth) Shore
A painter’s obsession with a woman who treats him as a mere instrument of her ambition leads to a ruinous unraveling in the shadows of Edwardian London.
The Philosophy of Teaching: The Teacher, The Pupil, The School
Nathaniel Sands
True education requires replacing dead languages and mechanical rote learning with the natural observation of the physical world, training youth directly in practical trades, physical health, civic duty, and the real conditions of human well-being.
The progress meatless cook book
Carlotta M. (Carlotta Mixer) Lake
A pragmatic manual for the turn-of-the-century homemaker offers an inventive blueprint for meatless dining alongside a vast collection of domestic solutions designed to eliminate daily kitchen drudgery.
The Queen's Cup
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
A soldier’s long-standing rivalry with a scoundrel reaches its violent conclusion on the high seas. This tale of obsession and rescue follows a veteran who must sail across the world to reclaim the woman he loves.
The rider of the Mohave
James Fellom
An adventurous tale of a desert fugitive and the daughter of a rancher, this story captures the tension of the American West as a man seeks redemption from a life of crime.
The Rock Ahead: A Novel. (Vol. 2)
Edmund Yates
The past is a dangerous country, and for the characters in this drama, the sins of a father and the secrets of a marriage become a relentless, encroaching tide.
The Shipwrecked Orphans: A true narrative of the shipwreck and sufferings of John Ireland and William Doyley, who were wrecked in the ship Charles Eaton, on an island in the South Seas
John (Seaman) Ireland
The sea is a place of absolute indifference, where the difference between a life saved and a life lost often hangs on the smallest, most frantic decision. This account charts the harrowing journey of two survivors who transitioned from the wreckage of a British ship to the uncertain mercy of indigenous islanders in…
The Sin and Danger of Self-Love: Described by a Sermon Preached At Plymouth, in New-England, 1621
Robert Cushman
A bracing, plain-spoken sermon from 1621 serves as a timeless warning against the "bane of all societies"—the corrosive impulse to prioritize one's own comfort over the well-being of the community.
The Space Between
Robert E. Gilbert
The voyage of the space-freighter The Box is interrupted by a bizarre, piratical boarding party, forcing a meek ore-hauler to confront both a physical threat and his own fraying relationship with his vanity-obsessed wife.
The Story of Zephyr: A Christmas Story
Jeanie Oliver Davidson Smith
A young boy longing for a pet finds his patience rewarded when a mysterious, snow-white kitten becomes the bridge between his summer camp adventures and a joyful, transformative Christmas morning.
The Substance of a Dream
F. W. (Francis William) Bain
Ensnared by a vivid dream of a peerless beauty, a wandering prince renounces his birthright to pursue an elusive star, only to find that his dream made him a helpless pawn in a cruel game.
The tale of Kiddie Katydid
Arthur Scott Bailey
Kiddie Katydid lives in the trees of Pleasant Valley, guarding a cryptic secret and navigating the complex social lives of field insects. He proves that a clever, quiet observer can outwit the neighborhood bullies and predators alike.
The Virtue and Use of Coffee With Regard to the Plague and Other Infectious Distempers
Richard Bradley
This treatise serves as a seventeenth-century exploration of coffee, blending botanical observation with the urgent medical anxieties of its time. It documents the plant’s origins, its global trade, and the belief that it acts as a vital prophylactic against the plague.
The Weathercock: Being the Adventures of a Boy with a Bias
George Manville Fenn
The village of Mavis Greythorpe serves as the stage for a young inventor’s restless mind, where mechanical curiosity and clashing personalities turn a quiet life into a series of unintended, high-stakes adventures.
The Wharf by the Docks: A Novel
Florence Warden
A mysterious disappearance, a web of secrets, and a young man's quest for truth in the shadow of a grand estate.