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44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 871 of 920.

Cover of Effie Ogilvie: the story of a young life

Effie Ogilvie: the story of a young life

Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

A young woman’s romantic ideals collide with the rigid expectations of her family, forcing her to choose between a sense of duty and the awakening of her own heart. This story captures the quiet, often painful, friction between internal integrity and social obligation.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Expelled

Expelled

Richard Marsh

The transition from the sheltered life of a boarding school to the unpredictable dangers of the adult world serves as the crucible for a group of young men facing an uncertain future. This narrative explores the tension between youthful vanity and the sobering realities of duty, faith, and survival.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Feathers left around

Feathers left around

Carolyn Wells

The quiet of a country house is shattered when a guest is found murdered, leaving a trail of cryptic clues for a master detective to unravel.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Fly By Night

Fly By Night

Arthur Dekker Savage

Two young pilots, trained from childhood and paired by military command, rocket into the deep black above Earth to accomplish humanity's first lunar flight—and to survive what lies beyond it.

Novels7 min read
Cover of Forever We Die!

Forever We Die!

Stephen Marlowe

HOOK A captive Earthman discovers that the foundation of an entire alien civilization is built upon a cynical, five-thousand-year-old lie.

Novels6 min read
Cover of French morality, under the regulation system

French morality, under the regulation system

Julie-Victoire Daubié

A scathing, meticulously researched indictment of the mid-nineteenth-century French "regulation system," this work exposes how state-sanctioned policies protected male vice while systematically dehumanizing women.

Gender & Sexuality Studies6 min read
Cover of Geographic Variation in Red-backed Mice (Genus Clethrionomys) of the Southern Rocky Mountain Region

Geographic Variation in Red-backed Mice (Genus Clethrionomys) of the Southern Rocky Mountain Region

E. Lendell Cockrum

The red-backed mice of the Southern Rocky Mountains are examined through a lens of systematic biology to clarify their complex geographic distribution and taxonomic classification.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of Girls of the Morning-Glory Camp Fire

Girls of the Morning-Glory Camp Fire

Isabel Hornibrook

A band of spirited young women finds adventure, self-discovery, and a long-lost family fortune while embracing the outdoor traditions of the early twentieth-century Camp Fire movement.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill Battle, as She Saw it from the Belfry

Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill Battle, as She Saw it from the Belfry

Oliver Wendell Holmes

A grandmother recounts the harrowing day of the Battle of Bunker Hill, witnessing the clash from a belfry as her own life’s trajectory is irrevocably altered by the violence unfolding across the river.

History - American6 min read
Cover of Harper's Round Table, June 11, 1895

Harper's Round Table, June 11, 1895

Various

This miscellany captures the Victorian spirit through a blend of maritime adventure, parliamentary observation, amateur photography, and the earnest, inquisitive pastimes of late nineteenth-century youth.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Harper's Young People, April 20, 1880: An Illustrated Weekly

Harper's Young People, April 20, 1880: An Illustrated Weekly

Various

A quiet afternoon quickly transforms into a lively demonstration of practical science when a giant homemade kite ascends over a small town.

Adventure7 min read
Cover of Harper's Young People, January 24, 1882: An Illustrated Weekly

Harper's Young People, January 24, 1882: An Illustrated Weekly

Various

This vibrant 1882 weekly offers a time capsule of childhood, blending earnest moral instruction, whimsical tales, and a lively correspondence column that connects young readers across a rapidly changing America.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Harper's Young People, May 30, 1882: An Illustrated Weekly

Harper's Young People, May 30, 1882: An Illustrated Weekly

Various

A vibrant window into nineteenth-century youth, this collection gathers stories, articles, and correspondence that capture the curiosity, playfulness, and aspirations of a bygone era.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Home is the Spaceman

Home is the Spaceman

George O. (George Oliver) Smith

An experimental pilot returns from an eighteen-month, faster-than-light voyage only to face a bureaucratic nightmare that reveals humanity is not the first, nor the most advanced, civilization in the galaxy.

Novels6 min read
Cover of House Flies

House Flies

L. O. (Leland Ossian) Howard

A singular, determined effort to rebrand a common household nuisance as a lethal public health threat.

Health & Medicine5 min read
Cover of In the Jag-Whiffing Service

In the Jag-Whiffing Service

David R. Bunch

The inhabitants of a distant, stressed planet rely on a strange, addictive commodity imported from Earth to find happiness. As supplies dwindle and tensions rise, they prepare to abandon their clandestine commerce for a full-scale invasion.

Science-Fiction & Fantasy6 min read
Cover of Jack Mason, the Old Sailor

Jack Mason, the Old Sailor

Francis C. (Francis Channing) Woodworth

A pious old sailor recounts his travels across the globe, mixing thrilling sea stories of arctic icebergs and giant whales with gentle moral lessons for young listeners.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Jane Allen, Junior

Jane Allen, Junior

Edith Bancroft

A vibrant, spirited junior at an elite women’s college navigates academic pressures, mysterious campus hauntings, and the secret lives of incoming freshmen.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Janet's college career

Janet's college career

Amy Ella Blanchard

A spirited, ambitious young woman navigates the social rivalries, shifting loyalties, and growing pains of her undergraduate years. This story captures the quintessentially collegiate blend of lighthearted pranks, deepening friendships, and the bittersweet transition toward adulthood.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of John, A Love Story

John, A Love Story

Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

A young man finds his idealism tested by the grinding reality of a banking career and a complicated, passionate courtship. Love proves to be a force that both disrupts his purpose and ultimately restores it.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat: His Many Adventures

Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat: His Many Adventures

Richard Barnum

This story follows a spirited goat who leaves his rocky hillside home to explore the wider world, ultimately finding his place in a loving family. It is a gentle, episodic tale of animal wonder, hardship, and reunion.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Little Robins' Love One to Another

Little Robins' Love One to Another

Madeline Leslie

HOOK Follow the intertwined lives of a family of robins and the children who cherish them, exploring the profound importance of kindness and the natural world in a gentle, instructional tale.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Louisa Pallant

Louisa Pallant

Henry James

A world-weary bachelor watches his nephew fall for a mesmerizing young heiress, only to be confronted by the girl’s mother, who makes a startling, desperate sacrifice to protect the boy from her own daughter.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Love's Comedy

Love's Comedy

Henrik Ibsen

A young poet challenges the hollow, performative romance of his social circle, only to discover that preserving the purity of love may require an impossible sacrifice.

Plays/Films/Dramas6 min read
Cover of Mam' Lyddy's Recognition: 1908

Mam' Lyddy's Recognition: 1908

Thomas Nelson Page

A fiercely loyal, aristocratic domestic servant discovers that the "recognition" promised to her by a smooth-talking urban preacher is a trap designed to steal her life’s savings.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Memoirs of the Marchioness of Pompadour (vol. 2 of 2)

Memoirs of the Marchioness of Pompadour (vol. 2 of 2)

Pompadour, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, marquise de

A royal favorite recounts the inner workings of an eighteenth-century court, revealing how the private whims of a monarch and the maneuvering of ministers shaped the trajectory of a fading superpower.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Abraham Lincoln: Delivered at the request of both Houses of Congress of America

Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Abraham Lincoln: Delivered at the request of both Houses of Congress of America

George Bancroft

A solemn, expansive tribute, this oration frames the life of a fallen leader as the inevitable, providential climax of the American struggle for freedom.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Mère Giraud's Little Daughter

Mère Giraud's Little Daughter

Frances Hodgson Burnett

A mother’s relentless pride in her daughter’s beauty blinds her to a tragic reality, leading to a journey that uncovers a secret sacrifice. This haunting narrative explores the devastating cost of vanity and the lengths to which love will go to protect a life that has already been lost.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of Mountain killers

Mountain killers

Thomas Barclay Thomson

A man waits in the high mountains to exact lethal revenge, only to find that nature has set a violent trap for both the hunter and the hunted.

Short Stories6 min read
Cover of Nelka: Mrs. Helen de Smirnoff Moukhanoff, 1878-1963, a Biographical Sketch

Nelka: Mrs. Helen de Smirnoff Moukhanoff, 1878-1963, a Biographical Sketch

Michael Moukhanoff

Living across two continents and through a century of sudden, total collapse, one woman searches relentlessly for an inner peace equal to her exterior courage.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Notes and Queries, Number 186, May 21, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Notes and Queries, Number 186, May 21, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Various

This volume serves as a digital window into the mid-Victorian intellectual landscape, functioning as a lively, collaborative exchange of curiosities, historical puzzles, and scholarly inquiries between the curious minds of 1853.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference6 min read
Cover of Notes and Queries, Number 228, March 11, 1854: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Notes and Queries, Number 228, March 11, 1854: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Various

The pursuit of obscure knowledge thrives in this collection of Victorian correspondence, where scholars and enthusiasts trade fragments of history, language, and science. It serves as a persistent, curious record of human inquisitiveness.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Oscar the Detective

Oscar the Detective

Old Sleuth

A master of the quick change and the sharp observation, a gentleman detective navigates the seedy underbelly of New York to untangle a web of international theft and hidden lineage.

Crime, Thrillers and Mystery5 min read
Cover of Our Elizabeth: A Humour Novel

Our Elizabeth: A Humour Novel

Florence A. (Florence Antoinette) Kilpatrick

A resourceful, fatalistic housemaid takes charge of her employers’ domestic and romantic lives, proving that a little superstition and a lot of nerve can fix even the most complicated marital entanglements.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Paul Clifford

Paul Clifford

Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

A charming rogue finds himself torn between his life of crime and a sudden, unexpected romance. It is a story of how society’s harsh judgments can push a person toward the very life they might have otherwise avoided.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Paying Off: Deep Waters, Part 2

Paying Off: Deep Waters, Part 2

W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

A self-important London night-watchman gets tricked into paying off the petty financial losses of a schooner's crew under the guise of an elaborate stolen-money scheme.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Peace Theories and the Balkan War

Peace Theories and the Balkan War

Norman Angell

The enduring dream of a world governed by reason instead of the sword often crashes against the hard, cold reality of the battlefield.

History - European6 min read
Cover of Poems

Poems

Carr, John, Sir

This collection captures the fleeting moods of a gentleman traveler in the early nineteenth century, blending light social observation with sincere, often melancholy, reflections on love, art, and the volatility of European politics.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Poems

Poems

Jennie Earngey Hill

The world is a tapestry of small, transient wonders, and this collection serves as a gentle lens through which to view the natural rhythms of life, love, and faith.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Possession

Possession

Mazo De la Roche

A young farmer stakes his future on a rugged stretch of Canadian soil, only to find his life tethered to a woman from the fringe of society and the heavy burden of his own choices. This is a story of the land, the price of ambition, and the irony of ownership.

Novels6 min read
Cover of Preferred Position

Preferred Position

Dave Dryfoos

In a world where technology has eliminated hardship, a couple finds that the only thing more dangerous than a life of total ease is the crushing boredom that comes with it.

Science-Fiction & Fantasy5 min read
Cover of Preserving Louisiana's Legacy: Everyone Can Help

Preserving Louisiana's Legacy: Everyone Can Help

Nancy W. Hawkins

This practical guide illuminates how ordinary citizens, landowners, and industries can safeguard Louisiana’s fragile archaeological history from the dual threats of modern development and intentional looting.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of Primrose Hill Park, Regent's Park, and Hampstead Heath

Primrose Hill Park, Regent's Park, and Hampstead Heath

William Ray Smee

A persistent citizen attempts to persuade the British government to preserve open space for urban recreation, finding that the machinery of state moves with frustrating deliberation when faced with the needs of the public.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Princess

Princess

M. G. (Mary Greenway) McClelland

A quiet study of the clash between long-held social codes and the fierce demands of individual desire, this narrative follows a young woman’s struggle to reconcile her conscience with a forbidden love.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105, August 12th 1893

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105, August 12th 1893

Various

A family faces a travel impasse, a bishop lands in hot water over orange peel, and the House of Commons descends into a squabble over dining tables. This collection offers a singular window into the anxieties, absurdities, and domestic rhythms of late Victorian life.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-02-25

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-02-25

Various

This snapshot of early twentieth-century British life captures the nervous, witty, and cynical pulse of a nation grappling with the immediate aftermath of the Great War. It serves as a time capsule of post-armistice social anxiety, blending sharp political satire with the absurdities of daily existence.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari. Volume 1, July 31, 1841

Punch, or the London Charivari. Volume 1, July 31, 1841

Various

The inaugural volume of this legendary periodical serves as a satirical mirror held up to the Victorian establishment, exposing the vanity, bureaucracy, and absurdity of the age through sharp wit and irreverent commentary.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, October 23, 1841

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, October 23, 1841

Various

This collection captures the frantic, biting energy of a new voice in early Victorian London, blending absurd theatrical farce with sharp-edged political commentary. It serves as a time capsule for the year 1841, when satire was the primary weapon against the pomposity of the ruling class.

British Literature6 min read