Free summaries
Adventure — page 41
5,964 public-domain adventure books, summarised. Page 41 of 125.
Sport in Abyssinia
Mayo, Dermot Robert Wyndham Bourke, Earl of
Rough tracks, relentless heat, and unpredictable wilderness define an expedition into nineteenth-century East Africa. A young British officer recount his travels through terrain where game is elusive, logistics collapse, and local politics dictate survival.
The Day of Judgment
Joseph Hocking
A young loom-maker, unjustly imprisoned and burdened by his mother’s ruined past, discovers that the famous judge who presides over his region holds the key to his own identity.
The Lost Valley
J. M. (James Morgan) Walsh
A gold strike in the bush, a dying uncle’s puzzle, and a secluded Australian valley hold the key to a family's lost inheritance.
The Open Polar Sea: A narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States"
I. I. (Isaac Israel) Hayes
Driven by youth and scientific ambition, an American commander leads a small vessel into the frozen perils of the Far North, pursuing the legendary ice-free basin surrounding the Pole while testing the absolute limits of human endurance.
The Shadow of the Czar
John R. Carling
An English officer stumbles into a web of Balkan statecraft, secretly guarded princesses, and Russian intrigue in a forgotten principality.
The Spoilers
Rex Beach
A crooked receiver and a corrupt judge conspire to steal Alaska’s richest gold claim, forcing two prospectors into a lawless battle to reclaim their mine.
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2
Parry, William Edward, Sir
Navigating dense pack ice, brutal arctic wintering, and treacherous ice-floe treks requires a delicate mix of stoic discipline, ingenuity, and profound respect for the extreme environment.
With Lee in Virginia: A Story of the American Civil War
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
Born into the wealthy planter elite of Tidewater Virginia, a young man must navigate the brutal unraveling of his world when war fractures his nation and forces him to choose between duty, conscience, and survival.
By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore, and Other Stories
Louis Becke
A harsh sun sweeps over the barrier reefs and quiet rivers of the Pacific, where trader and native live side by side.
Crusoe's Island: A Ramble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk: With Sketches of Adventure in California and Washoe
J. Ross (John Ross) Browne
An observant 1849 traveler journeys across the Pacific, through rugged California trails, and into chaotic Nevada silver towns, recording every absurd and dangerous encounter with dry, irrepressible humor.
Early Australian Voyages: Pelsart, Tasman, Dampier
John Pinkerton
Across centuries of maps drawn from imagination and rumor, three real navigators carved out the jagged contours of Australia, replacing mythical continents with dangerous reefs, barren coasts, and unpredictable currents.
Eastern Nights - and Flights: A Record of Oriental Adventure
Alan Bott
Captivity in the Ottoman Empire turns a downed British aviator into an inventor of desperate schemes, trailing through prison camps, fake lunacy, and disguises.
Eva's Adventures in Shadow-Land
Mary D. (Mary Dummett) Nauman
A young girl ventures past her quiet parlor into a realm of magical trials, sentient nature, and elusive fairy creatures.
Joe's Luck
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
Left penniless after his father's death, an independent teenager escapes a stingy employer to seek his fortune in the 1850s California Gold Rush.
Oregon and Eldorado
Thomas Bulfinch
Nature lays clear water-pathways across both South and North America, inviting ambitious travelers to cross a continent from sea to sea.
The Boy Ranchers at Spur Creek
Willard F. Baker
When cattle rustlers steal the deeds to Spur Creek, three young cousins must defend their family’s range against desperate sheep herders in this classic Western adventure.
The Death Ship: A Strange Story, Vol. 1 (of 3)
William Clark Russell
A English seaman steps from a doomed merchantman onto a ghostly Dutch ship cursed to beat against Cape storms forever.
The Forest of Swords: A Story of Paris and the Marne
Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler
An American volunteer and his French airman comrade race across a war-torn landscape, carrying crucial intelligence as millions of soldiers clash in the pivotal defense of Paris.
With Rifle and Bayonet: A Story of the Boer War
F. S. (Frederick Sadleir) Brereton
A lad driven from home finds his footing in the fires of the veldt, fighting for country and comrades with cool resolve.
A Voyage in a Balloon (1852)
Jules Verne
A lone aeronaut takes to the German skies, only to discover his unexpected passenger is a dangerous fanatic determined to steer them both into eternity.
Bellarion the Fortunate
Rafael Sabatini
A fortune-hunting scholar turns military genius to save a realm—and the proud princess who mistrusts him—in Sabatini’s grand, Machiavellian renaissance adventure.
Black Bartlemy's Treasure
Jeffery Farnol
A chained gally-slave breaks free to pursue a deadly vendetta, only to find himself stranded on an uncharted island alongside his greatest enemy's daughter.
Bonnie Prince Fetlar: The Story of a Pony and His Friends
Marshall Saunders
A city-bred Shetland pony narrates his summer in the Ontario backwoods, where he helps a lonely, motherless boy heal from secrets, fear, and family strife.
Dave Darrin's Second Year at Annapolis
H. Irving (Harrie Irving) Hancock
Courage, duty, and class honor intersect on land and sea as a determined young midshipman navigates the trials of his second year at the United States Naval Academy.
Stories and Legends of Travel and History, for Children
Grace Greenwood
Travel becomes a doorway to the past when a curious reader explores historic gardens, ancient cathedrals, and mysterious coastlines across England and Ireland.
The Flight of the Silver Ship: Around the World Aboard a Giant Dirgible
Hugh McAlister
A high-minded prep-school graduate steps into the captaincy of a massive dirigible to complete a historic, storm-tossed circumnavigation of the globe.
The Queen of the Pirate Isle
Bret Harte
A nine-year-old girl leads three young companions away from their quiet home into a grand adventure that transforms childhood imagination into real-world fortune.
The Sorcerer's Stone
Beatrice Grimshaw
An unscrupulous sorcerer’s priceless gem drives two luckless adventurers through cannibal villages, deep-sea diving brawls, and tropical madness across the wild frontier of early twentieth-century Papua New Guinea.
The Treasure of the Tigris: A Tale of Mesopotamia
A. F. (Augustus Ferryman) Mockler-Ferryman
Unflinching courage meets ancient legend along the banks of the Euphrates, where an expelled British cadet unravels the hidden secrets of the Mesopotamian desert.
Across India
Oliver Optic
An American steam yacht rescues three well-connected travelers in the Arabian Sea, sparking a lavish, grand tour across the cities and princely courts of nineteenth-century India.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 26 to 30
Mark Twain
A young boy and a runaway slave navigate the moral hazards of the antebellum Mississippi River while caught in the web of two ruthless confidence men.
Amadis of Gaul, Vol. 3
Vasco de Lobeira
The path of a true knight is never smooth, paved as it is with the constant tug-of-war between personal devotion and the rigid, often capricious demands of kings.
"Boy" the Wandering Dog: Adventures of a Fox-Terrier
Marshall Saunders
A scrappy fox-terrier navigates the perils of city life and the joys of the country, finding profound purpose in his devotion to humanity.
Eagles of the Sky
Ambrose Newcomb
High above the sun-drenched Florida waters, two aerial sleuths hunt an elusive smuggling ring by plane, sea, and swamp.
Handy Mandy in Oz
Ruth Plumly Thompson
The world is full of sudden wonders, but few are as startling as a mountain goat girl who finds herself launched into the heart of a royal mystery by a flying slab of rock.
Hawk Carse
Anthony Gilmore
Hawk Carse operates on the outer edge of space with a cold, absolute sense of justice.
Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia: Being the Adventures of Prince Prigio's Son
Andrew Lang
A royal heir prefers foolish reckless action over books, leaving a clever father and a practical princess to save him from his own magical misadventures.
Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery
Seaborn, Adam, Captain
A daring captain pushes his steamship into the frozen south, only to discover a hollow earth populated by a society of profound moral and social perfection.
The Sheriff of Badger: A Tale of the Southwest Borderland
George Pattullo
A quiet, steady man finds his true calling as a lawman and ranch manager in the rugged, unforgiving territory of the American Southwest. This story chronicles his transformation from a drifter into a pillar of his community, testing his mettle against outlaws, harsh landscapes, and the weight of his own growing…
The Young Colonists: A Story of the Zulu and Boer Wars
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
Cruel weather and political blunders converge to throw two English youths into the high-stakes turmoil of nineteenth-century South African warfare.
Tom Willoughby's Scouts: A Story of the War in German East Africa
Herbert Strang
A young Englishman’s routine inspection of his family’s East African coffee plantation quickly dissolves into a desperate, high-stakes game of survival against a duplicitous German manager during the outbreak of the First World War.
Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. Vol. II
Alexander Mackenzie
The pursuit of an overland route to the Pacific Ocean drives this rigorous account of North American exploration. It remains a foundational record of the daunting geography and the diverse indigenous cultures encountered during the late eighteenth century.
Bernard Treves's Boots: A Novel of the Secret Service
Laurence (Laurence Ayscough) Clarke
A man adopts the identity of a disgraced soldier to infiltrate a German spy ring, only to find himself entangled in the complex loyalties of a family he has never known.
Law of the North (Originally published as Empery): A Story of Love and Battle in Rupert's Land
Samuel Alexander White
In the unforgiving wilderness of Rupert’s Land, a resolute Hudson’s Bay Company trader battles a ruthless rival for control of the fur trade and the heart of a mysterious woman.
The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Fourth: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Egypt and the Holy Land
Thomas Wallace Knox
Two young explorers traverse the historic landscapes of Egypt and the Holy Land, documenting their encounters with ancient wonders and the complex, often challenging, realities of nineteenth-century travel.
The Garden of the Plynck
Karle Wilson Baker
When a young girl’s mother repeatedly tells her to go "inside her head" to play, she finally accepts the challenge, discovering a whimsical, logic-defying realm of infinite imagination.
The Little Colonel's Hero
Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston
A young girl’s summer travels through Europe culminate in a profound lesson on service and the quiet, enduring power of character. This story invites readers to look beyond the surface of life’s adventures to find the nobility in everyday devotion.
The Stowaway Girl
Louis Tracy
A young woman escapes a stifling, unwanted marriage by slipping aboard a ship, only to find herself embroiled in a perilous South American revolution when her vessel is sunk by mistake.