The whole shelf
All free summaries — page 870
44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 870 of 920.
The Men of Boru
Jack A. Nelson
The survival of the human spirit depends on the courage to leave behind a comfortable, manufactured reality. A small band of rebels risks everything to break the psychological chains of a subterranean, totalitarian society.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 276, October 6, 1827
Various
This collection captures the restless, inquisitive spirit of the early nineteenth century, offering a panoramic view of a world balancing between ancient tradition and a rapidly modernizing industrial landscape.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 401, November 28, 1829
Various
A cheap penny weekly from late Georgian London opens a window onto a world obsessed with weird anatomy, Imperial expansion, and the quirky habits of statesmen.
The moors and the fens, volume 2 (of 3)
Riddell, J. H., Mrs.
A young woman’s desperate struggle for independence and financial stability forces her to confront the hollow vanity of high society and the crushing weight of familial duty.
The Mysteries of Heron Dyke: A Novel of Incident. Volume 2 (of 3)
T. W. (Thomas Wilkinson) Speight
A secluded estate on the Norfolk coast hides deadly secrets, where a dying patriarch, a missing heiress, and a desperate, obsessive suitor collide in a web of mounting dread.
The New Science of Controlled Breathing, Vol. 2 (of 2): The Secret of Strength, Energy and Beauty—Through Breath Control
Edward Lankow
The act of breathing, often overlooked as a mere automatic function, serves as the primary gateway to physical vigor and mental clarity. By mastering rhythmic, controlled respiration, anyone can unlock a vital, life-sustaining energy.
The Philosophy of Earthquakes, Natural and Religious
William Stukeley
The earth trembles, and in its shivering, a mid-18th-century mind seeks both the physical spark of the event and the spiritual wake-up call it brings to a complacent, modern city.
The schoolmaster's trunk, containing papers on home-life in Tweenit
Abby Morton Diaz
A schoolmaster observes the crushing domestic labor of a nineteenth-century village, arguing that women deserve more time for intellectual pursuits and child-rearing than the relentless preparation of elaborate food allows.
The Stuff
Henry Slesar
A man facing a terminal diagnosis is offered a mysterious, life-altering drug that promises to change his reality forever. This story explores the fine line between a life well-lived and the perfect illusion of one.
The talkers
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
A young woman returns from the brink of death to find her body a battleground for competing souls. This haunting narrative explores the volatile intersection of modern science, spiritual possession, and desperate human longing.
The town down the river
Edwin Arlington Robinson
A collection of precise, melancholic portraits, this work captures the quiet tragedy of lives spent chasing ghosts and the heavy wisdom of those who witness the inevitable decay of all things.
The Toy
Kris Neville
The inhabitants of a primitive world struggle against the lethal intrusions of invaders, only to discover that their fate lies in the hands of a forgotten, slumbering relic.
The Treason and Death of Benedict Arnold: A Play for a Greek Theatre
John Jay Chapman
A fallen hero seeks reconciliation with his own fractured history, finding that the weight of past glory and the sting of betrayal are burdens no exile can outrun.
The Trysting Place: A Farce in One Act
Booth Tarkington
A secluded hotel lounge becomes the unwilling stage for overlapping secret romances, as a series of well-meaning but oblivious guests hide in the furniture to conduct private affairs.
The Vegans Were Curious
Winston K. (Winston Kinney) Marks
An advanced alien visitor stops at Earth out of simple curiosity, only to find himself entangled in the illogical, high-stakes, and surprisingly intoxicating customs of the human race.
The World English Bible (WEB): Acts
Anonymous
Witnessing the rapid transformation of a small, local movement into a global faith, this narrative chronicles the early days of Christianity. It traces the mission from a single upper room in Jerusalem to the heart of the Roman Empire.
The Worshippers
Damon Knight
Accidental conquerors make for ironic deities, and absolute power is a fragile delusion when granted by alien whims.
The Young Firemen of Lakeville
Frank V. Webster
HOOK When a series of mysterious fires threatens a quiet New England village, a group of enterprising boys takes matters into their own hands, proving that youthful pluck can outshine the skepticism of adults.
Two Burlesques of Lord Chesterfield's Letters.: The Graces (1774), The Fine Gentleman's Etiquette (1776)
Unknown
An obsessively polished aristocrat attempts to sculpt his awkward son into a smooth courtier, only to find that obsessive elegance collapses into absurd, petty micromanagement.
Two Prisoners
Thomas Nelson Page
The story of two lonely souls separated by class but united by suffering, this tale explores how a single act of compassion can bridge the widest divides.
Unlucky: A Fragment of a Girl's Life
Caroline Austin
This domestic drama explores the painful disconnect between a well-meaning but rigid stepmother and her spirited young ward, tracing the tragic consequences of misunderstood love and the burden of unyielding expectations.
Vittoria
George Meredith
A young woman stands at the center of an Italian uprising, caught between the suffocating grip of an occupying empire and the dangerous zeal of the men who love her. Her voice becomes a weapon in a city where every song is a political signal and every movement is watched by shadows.
Whiskaboom
Alan Arkin
A young man’s obsessive quest to harness time leads to a catastrophic, dimension-shattering accident, leaving his landlords to mail him home in a cardboard tube. This peculiar narrative explores the friction between youthful idealism and cold, profit-driven parental expectation.
White Lotus, the legend of the cat's eye
Carlo de Fornaro
A divine romance transcends the celestial realm when a god assumes the humble guise of an Angora cat to win the heart of a mortal princess.
Widger's Quotations from Project Gutenberg Edition of French Immortals Series
Unknown
This collection serves as a curated gateway to the French literary canon, offering readers a vast, distilled map of nineteenth-century social and moral thought through the lens of the Académie Française.
Wild Bill's Last Trail
Ned Buntline
HOOK Haunted by the ghosts of the men he has killed, the legendary gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok discovers that the past has finally tracked him into the rugged wilderness of the Black Hills.
Women in the factory
Adelaide Mary Anderson
This is a chronicle of the first three decades of the British Women’s Factory Inspectorate, documenting how a small, determined group of women transformed industrial safety and worker dignity from 1893 to 1921.
You Ask Anybody
B. M. Bower
A master of the stagecoach trail finds his livelihood and identity challenged by the advent of the automobile. He must reconcile his rugged past with an unpredictable, mechanical future in the high desert of Nevada.
A Confederate surgeon's letters to his wife
Spencer Glasgow Welch
A surgeon’s intimate, unvarnished correspondence reveals the grueling, hungry reality of life in the Confederate Army, from the chaos of the front lines to the quiet longing for home.
A girl and her ways
Amy Le Feuvre
In the quiet landscapes of early 20th-century England, a young woman’s impulsive spirit clashes with the rigid expectations of her social class. This story follows her journey from displacement and financial precarity toward a hard-won maturity and a life defined by newfound anchorages.
A Guide for the Dissection of the Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias)
Lawrence Edmonds Griffin
This technical manual provides a methodical, step-by-step approach to the anatomical study of the spiny dogfish, serving as a foundational resource for biological education. It transforms the practice of dissection into a disciplined exercise in observation and discovery.
A Letter to the Loving and Beloved People of the Parish of Madeley, and Its Vicinity, Who Have Lost a Friend to Piety in the Death of Mrs. Fletcher, Widow of the Rev. J. W. Fletcher, (or de la Flechere,) Late Vicar of Madeley, Shropshire
Mary Tooth
A devoted companion bears witness to the final days of a beloved spiritual mentor, capturing the transition of a life lived entirely for the service of others and the glory of the divine.
A Refutation of the Charges Made against the Confederate States of America of Having Authorized the Use of Explosive and Poisoned Musket and Rifle Balls during the Late Civil War of 1861-65
Horace Edwin Hayden
The accusation that Confederate forces deployed "fiendish" explosive and poisoned bullets during the Civil War is a myth, one that this historical investigation systematically dismantles through evidence, official records, and legal documentation.
Archibald Hughson: An Arctic Story
William Henry Giles Kingston
A headstrong Shetland youth runs away to sea on an Arctic whaling voyage, only to find that surviving treacherous ice, shipwreck, and frozen wilderness requires a far deeper strength than self-will.
Battlefield in Black
George A. Whittington
The Solar System’s most vital defense infrastructure is suddenly engulfed in an impenetrable, artificial void. A lone captain must navigate his vessel through the darkness to dismantle a treasonous conspiracy before it destroys his home.
Bonnie Joann, and other poems
Violet Jacob
These poems capture the haunting, rhythmic essence of life in the Scottish county of Angus, where the wind, the sea, and the weight of history press against every quiet hearth. They offer a rare, intimate look at a landscape where the ancient and the modern collide in the dialect of the fields.
Buds and Blossoms
active 19th century Lady
This collection of domestic narratives offers a window into the moral education of Victorian-era children, blending earnest religious instruction with tales of lost youngsters and their eventual homecomings. It presents a world where faith, filial piety, and nature are the primary tools for shaping a young character.
Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 22, Vol. I, May 31, 1884
Various
This May 1884 issue of a long-standing Victorian periodical serves as a vibrant, multifaceted window into the preoccupations, anxieties, and scientific curiosity of the late nineteenth century. Through a blend of investigative social commentary, serialized fiction, and informative reportage, the collection captures…
Cinq Mars
Alfred de Vigny
A young nobleman’s idealistic dream of liberation collapses under the suffocating, calculated reach of a master statesman. This is a harrowing portrait of the struggle between private honor and the cold machinery of power.
Coelebs: The Love Story of a Bachelor
F. E. Mills (Florence Ethel Mills) Young
A self-assured bachelor finds his predictable, quiet life overturned when a spirited young woman enters his circle and challenges his rigid, old-fashioned views on love and independence.
Cork: Being the story of the origin of cork, the processes employed in its manufacture & its various uses in the world to-day
Armstrong Cork Company
This comprehensive account tracks the journey of cork from its Mediterranean origins to its transformation into essential industrial goods. It serves as an informative guide to the history, harvesting, and diverse applications of a singular natural material.
Corporal Tikitanu, V.C
J. C. (James Coldham) Fussell
A spirited, humorous portrait of a Māori soldier in the Great War, capturing the indomitable personality of a volunteer who navigates the trenches with wit and an irrepressible sense of duty.
Crawford's Defeat: A Tale of the Frontier in 1812
Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County
A boisterous braggart faces a terrifying midnight encounter with the wilderness, inadvertently triggering a mass panic that transforms a small frontier village into a bastion of frantic, armed resistance.
Dangerous Dilemmas: Startling but True
James Anderson Peddie
This collection of tales offers a window into the precarious lives of gamblers, opportunists, and Victorian-era adventurers. These accounts of social deception, high-stakes betting, and curious coincidences capture the frantic energy of a world constantly on the edge of ruin.
Deadline
Walter L. Kleine
A pair of stranded explorers race against a seventy-day deadline to carve a landing strip on Mars, knowing their survival depends on more than just mechanical repairs. They must navigate a volatile, forced intimacy in the crushing silence of an alien world.
Description of a New Softshell Turtle from the Southeastern United States
Robert G. (Robert Gravem) Webb
This short scientific report formally identifies and catalogs a previously unrecognized subspecies of softshell turtle, the Gulf Coast Smooth Softshell, found within the river systems of the American Southeast.
Dew Drops, Vol. 37, No. 34, August 23, 1914
Various
Simple everyday moments transformed into gentle moral lessons invite young readers to see how small choices shape a cheerful heart.
Effie Ogilvie: the story of a young life (Complete)
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
Effie Ogilvie is a quiet, observant young woman whose life is disrupted when she is pushed into an engagement with an outsider. It is a story of how a girl navigates the expectations of others while discovering her own moral center.