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All free summaries — page 765
42,801 public-domain books, summarised. Page 765 of 892.
The call of the night rider
Albert Lee
The quiet, scholarly labor of a man translating the Bible defies the violent machinery of the Inquisition in this story of faith and narrow escapes.
The Case and Exceptions: Stories of Counsel and Clients
Frederick Trevor Hill
The courtroom is a theater where the lines between justice and performance blur, leaving those who inhabit its halls to reckon with the moral residue of their work. These stories peel back the layers of legal practice to expose the human cost hidden within the record.
The collector's whatnot
Booth Tarkington
A playful, dryly humorous guide for the enthusiast, this work satirizes the burgeoning American obsession with antique collecting. It offers a mock-serious syllabus of advice, history, and "expert" testimony that manages to mock both the preciousness of collectors and the absurdity of the market itself.
The color of space
Charles R. Tanner
A scientist kidnapped by a geopolitical rival finds himself aboard a vessel hurtling toward Venus, where he must outsmart a captor using elaborate illusions to steal his life’s work.
The Congo Rovers: A Story of the Slave Squadron
Harry Collingwood
This narrative follows a young midshipman’s harrowing initiation into naval service, as he confronts the brutality of the slave trade and the unpredictable perils of the African coast.
The cybernetic kid
John Jakes
The story of a seven-year-old math prodigy finding unlikely liberation through the schemes of two small-time hucksters, this science-fiction tale explores the friction between rigid academic expectation and the chaotic, necessary freedom of childhood. It captures a mid-century vision of the future—complete with…
The Education of the Negro
Charles Dudley Warner
The national challenge of integrating millions of formerly enslaved people into American citizenship requires a sober, long-term approach grounded in industrial training rather than superficial academic instruction. This analysis argues that the path to true progress lies in prioritizing character-building and…
The Elixir
Georg Ebers
An apothecary’s family discovers that the capacity to speak absolute truth is not a gift, but a heavy burden that can unravel the lives of those forced to carry it.
The First 498 Bernoulli Numbers
Unknown
This collection serves as a definitive reference for the first 498 Bernoulli numbers, documenting the specific coefficients that appear in the series expansion of a fundamental mathematical function. It provides a precise, unvarnished look at the numerical building blocks used in calculus and number theory.
The Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry in the Closing Scenes of the War for the Maintenance of the Union, from Richmond to Appomatox
La Salle Corbell Pickett
The Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry occupies a unique place in the final, frantic days of the American Civil War. This account captures the regiment’s pivotal role in the liberation of Richmond and the desperate, decisive skirmish at High Bridge.
The Governess
Julie M. Lippmann
A stubborn, wild-tempered girl wages a silent war against the new governess hired to tame her, only to discover that her strict guardian hides a selfless devotion and a secretive past tied to her own family.
The History and Antiquities of Horsham
Howard Dudley
A quiet Sussex market town unfolds through its ancient stones, wooded parishes, and parish registers, revealing centuries of local history, parish memory, and folk tradition.
The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, Part 25
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
The delusional idealism of a self-appointed knight and the pragmatic, earthy skepticism of his squire collide, revealing the profound absurdity and poignant beauty of the human condition.
The industrial republic: a study of the America of ten years hence
Upton Sinclair
The modern world is a vast, interconnected machine, yet it functions for the benefit of a tiny few. This exploration examines why the present economic order is failing and how a peaceful transition to a more equitable future is possible.
The Inner Sisterhood: A Social Study in High Colors
Douglass Sherley
A series of sharp, intimate interior monologues pulls back the velvet curtain on the calculations, heartaches, and social games of young women navigating a late nineteenth-century ballroom world.
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 24, December 12, 1840
Various
This collection captures the vanishing history and fading superstitions of 19th-century Ireland, blending antiquarian research with the gentle, inquisitive observations of daily life. It serves as a thoughtful window into a world shaped by both folklore and social change.
The Jervaise Comedy
J. D. (John Davys) Beresford
A week-end house party spirals into farce when a young woman vanishes, forcing an observant guest to navigate the collision between rigid class tradition and the unpredictable reality of human desire.
The Lady of Fort St. John
Mary Hartwell Catherwood
A resilient woman commands a besieged wilderness fortress, caught between rival colonial powers and the encroaching shadows of a high-stakes, historical power struggle.
The Lake Mystery
Marvin Dana
A reclusive miser’s death leaves behind a trail of gold and a musical cipher, drawing a group of treasure seekers into a deadly game of wits beneath a lake. This 1923 mystery balances adventure, romance, and greed within a remote wilderness setting.
The Last American: A Fragment from The Journal of Khan-li, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy
John Ames Mitchell
A Persian admiral discovers the ruins of a fallen, forgotten superpower, only to encounter the final remnants of its people in a tragic, violent final act.
The Legacy of Ignorantism
T. H. (Trinidad Hermenegildo) Pardo de Tavera
A scathing critique of religious colonial rule exposes how centuries of enforced superstition crippled a nation's intellectual growth, framing modern secular education as the essential path toward genuine social progress.
The lily of Mordaunt
Sheldon, Georgie, Mrs.
Through a series of reversals, a young woman discovers her true noble identity, while a fortune-hunting husband learns that wealth cannot purchase the redemption he desperately craves.
The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
A tender spirit wanders between realms of light and shadow, grappling with the profound mysteries of grief, divine justice, and the stubborn persistence of the human soul. This collection explores the unseen landscape of existence where the boundaries of life and death are not endings, but thresholds of transformation.
The Loom of the Desert
Idah Meacham Strobridge
The desert is a cruel weaver, turning the lives of men and women into a somber fabric of sorrow, sin, and rare, fleeting joy. This collection of sketches captures the harsh reality of life in the early Nevada West.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 335, October 11, 1828
Various
This volume serves as a time capsule for the early nineteenth-century reader, offering a blend of antiquarian discovery, practical advice, and global reportage. It captures a world in the midst of rapid transition, balancing respect for tradition with an emerging obsession for scientific and colonial expansion.
The mystery road
E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
HOOK A peasant girl’s escape from a grim, provincial life leads her into the glittering, dangerous orbit of two English gentlemen in Monte Carlo.
The Nursery, September 1881, Vol. XXX: A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers
Various
This collection captures the Victorian spirit of childhood, offering a gentle, instructive, and whimsical window into the domestic and natural worlds as viewed by the youngest readers of the late nineteenth century.
The Orphan
Thomas Otway
Tragedy finds its most devastating form when the damage is done not by malice, but by the reckless silence of those who love each other best. This is a story of three orphans—two brothers and their ward—whose lives are dismantled by a single night of misunderstanding.
The Oversight
Miles J. (Miles John) Breuer
The appearance of an ancient Roman galley on a modern Nebraska river signals the start of a terrifying, impossible invasion that forces humanity to confront a threat born from a perspective entirely alien to our own.
The Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy (Vol. IV, No. II, April 1849)
Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
This mid-nineteenth-century periodical offers a rare, primary-source window into the rigorous, often clinical, and deeply earnest efforts of early American prison reformers to transform the nation’s penal system.
The Picture Gallery Explored
Unknown
A retired gentleman introduces his young cousins to history through the portraits in his home, teaching them to look past appearances toward the virtues and follies of the past.
The poems of Thomas Gordon Hake
Thomas Gordon Hake
This collection captures the enduring voice of a nineteenth-century observer who translates deep, meditative stillness into rhythmic verse. It is a portrait of a poet who views the world through a lens of solemn, dreamlike contemplation.
The Princess Galva: A Romance
David Whitelaw
HOOK A bored London clerk trades his humdrum existence for a high-stakes conspiracy, finding himself the unlikely guardian of a princess and a kingdom’s fractured future.
The Romance of a Pro-Consul: Being the Personal Life and Memoirs of the Right Hon. Sir George Grey, K.C.B
James Milne
This is an intimate portrait of a Victorian imperial visionary, tracing the long, adventurous life of a man who served as a soldier, explorer, and governor across the British Empire’s vast reach. It captures the essence of a statesman who, while wielding power in distant colonies, remained a restless dreamer…
The sleeping beauty
Theodora Du Bois
This charming, lighthearted play breathes fresh, domestic humor into a timeless fairy tale, reimagining the royal court as a bickering family prone to petty grievances and social anxieties.
The Slizzers
Jerome Bixby
Alien parasites live among humanity undetected, harvesting human vitality during moments of peak joy.
The story of Cairo
Stanley Lane-Poole
He who has not seen Cairo has not seen the world, for this medieval metropolis remains a living monument to centuries of shifting power, faith, and architectural splendor.
The Story of Mattie J. Jackson: Her Parentage—Experience of Eighteen years in Slavery—Incidents during the War—Her Escape from Slavery
L. S. (Lucy S.) Thompson
A young woman escapes the brutality of Missouri slavery to find freedom and a future, documenting her journey to secure the education she was long denied. This narrative serves as both a testament to survival and a plea for the intellectual empowerment of those recently liberated.
The suppressed Gospels and Epistles of the original New Testament of Jesus the Christ, Volume 1, Mary
William Wake
This collection recovers ancient, non-canonical writings excluded from the standard New Testament, inviting readers to explore the narratives and epistles that once shaped early Christian thought before they were formally suppressed.
The sword decides
Marjorie Bowen
The sword decides the fate of a royal marriage, leaving a kingdom in the shadow of a brutal and mysterious death. This historical narrative probes the heavy cost of ambition within a volatile, fading court.
The tale of Major Monkey
Arthur Scott Bailey
HOOK A mischievous, gold-braided soldier arrives in Pleasant Valley, but his insatiable appetite for eggs and maple sugar leads him into a series of humorous misadventures.
The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, Volume 5
Émile Zola
A young priest’s search for spiritual renewal in the heart of the Vatican ends in the wreckage of his own ideals. Amidst the shifting power of an ancient city, he discovers that the weight of tradition is as heavy as the stone that built it.
The Un-Reconstructed Woman
Hayden Howard
HOOK A stranded, isolated man finds himself tasked with "civilizing" a wild, feral creature he discovers on a forgotten planet. Their strange, evolving bond challenges his desperate, fading dreams of returning to the life he once knew.
The Wars Between England and America
Theodore Clarke Smith
A continuous half-century of political, economic, and military collision shapes the birth of the American republic. The story of its separation from Great Britain is a long narrative of clashing interests, failed compromises, and reluctant conflict.
The Wedge of Gold
C. C. (Charles Carroll) Goodwin
The search for fortune often leads to the discovery of something more valuable than gold. This story follows the lives of determined men and the women who transform them.
The wild fawn
Mary Imlay Taylor
A sheltered Virginia family faces scandal and social upheaval when their ambitious eldest son returns from abroad with a bride whose vibrant, cosmopolitan nature clashes with their rigid, small-town expectations.
The wolf pack
Ridgwell Cullum
A rugged tale of the Canadian frontier, where a young man raised by a criminal and a headstrong woman navigate a web of murder, bootlegging, and the weight of their own pasts.
The Young Lord, and Other Tales
Mary Martha Sherwood
True virtue is often invisible to the world, while vanity frequently masquerades as success. This collection of moral tales explores the destructive power of greed, jealousy, and the hollow pursuit of outward status.