Free summaries
Adventure — page 81
4,170 public-domain adventure books, summarised. Page 81 of 87.
The Hartley brothers
A. L. O. E.
Driven off course during a desert stopover, two missionary brothers endure capture, thirst, and grief in the Arabian sands before finding their faith vindicated in unexpected ways.
The Hunters of the Hills
Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler
Two young wilderness couriers and a wise hunter race against French intrigue to hold the allegiance of the powerful Six Nations as a continent-spanning war erupts.
The Italian Twins
Lucy Fitch Perkins
Lost in the holiday crowds of Easter Saturday Florence, two wealthy children are taken by a traveling performer and thrust into a world of forced street dancing, high-road escape, and desperate wanderings.
The King's Sons
George Manville Fenn
The young princes of Wessex would far rather play at broadswords than sit with a book, but their plump tutor knows that a true ruler needs more than a sharp blade.
The Lady of the Ice: A Novel
James De Mille
A young British officer in garrisoned Quebec finds himself plunged into a tangle of mistaken identities, icy rescues, and frantic romantic scrapes.
The Missouri Outlaws
Gustave Aimard
Out on the wild Missouri border, an exiled European nobleman, a noble outlaw, and a squatter’s daughter navigate a treacherous frontier where honour and vengeance collide.
The Passing of Ku Sui
Anthony Gilmore
Beneath the airless void of space, a centuries-old feud reaches its violent climax in a clash between two legendary figures of the solar system.
The Peril Finders
George Manville Fenn
Gold in the mountains, ancient rock-hewn cities, and a perilous passage through the American wilderness call three fruit-growers and their sons away from their failing orchards.
The Phantom Yacht
Carol Norton
A trembling girl stands on a fog-choked shore, watching for a ghost ship that vanished decades ago.
The Ranch Girls in Europe
Margaret Vandercook
Four young women raised on a Montana ranch take a whirlwind tour of Europe, navigating high-society balls, ancient ruins, and complicated romantic attachments.
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.
Before Egypt
Robert Bloch
Lost on a dark, fatal orbit in space, a hard-bitten charter pilot and his alien quartermaster hunt the space pirates who kidnapped their client’s father and stole his decoded map to a distant world.
Bill Biddon, Trapper
Edward Sylvester Ellis
Two travelers find themselves thrust into a perilous wilderness where survival depends on the sharp instincts of a seasoned mountain man. Amidst the vast, untamed prairie, they must navigate the shifting loyalties of indigenous tribes and the raw dangers of the frontier.
Bob Chester's Grit
Frank V. Webster
Falsely accused by his guardian, a brave boy flees to the West, outsmarts conspirators, and reclaims his stolen fortune.
Dan Carter and the Great Carved Face
Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt
This mystery centers on a group of young Cub Scouts whose innocent project on Navajo culture unexpectedly draws them into the affairs of three mysterious men. It is a brisk, earnest, and well-plotted adventure that captures the earnest spirit of mid-century youth fiction.
Dotty Dimple Out West
Sophie May
A vain little girl learns that the world is far larger and kinder than her own reflection.
Found at Blazing Star
Bret Harte
A modest gold ring found in the mud of a declining California mining camp sets off a chain of suspicion, mystery, and romantic misadventures.
Frank on the Lower Mississippi
Harry Castlemon
War on the great river is a matter of swift currents, murky shorelines, night patrols, and sudden close-quarters combat. A young Union naval officer tests his courage against riverine guerrillas, treacherous transports, and deep waters.
Gerda in Sweden
Etta Blaisdell McDonald
A warm summer voyage through Swedish waterways opens a world of sunlit fjords, ancient northern lore, and enduring childhood friendship.
Hair Breadth Escapes: Perilous incidents in the lives of sailors and travelers in Japan, Cuba, East Indies, etc., etc
T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
Survival at sea and in uncharted lands demands every ounce of human resilience, testing the boundary between self-preservation and complete moral collapse.
In the Days of Washington: A Story of the American Revolution
William Murray Graydon
The American Revolution serves as the backdrop for a tense, sprawling pursuit involving hidden identities, lost inheritances, and the struggle for personal and national liberty.
Jean, Our Little Australian Cousin
Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
A young girl’s journey from the familiar streets of Scotland to the rugged frontier of Australia unfolds into a test of character, courage, and unexpected friendship.
King Mombo
Paul B. (Paul Belloni) Du Chaillu
The deep, tangled forests of equatorial Africa hold secrets of nature and human endurance, seen through the eyes of a traveler who finds wonder and danger in equal measure.
Letty and the Twins
Helen Sherman Griffith
Two adventurous twins spend a transformative summer at their grandparents’ farm, where they befriend a former circus performer seeking a new life.
Monkey Jack and Other Stories
Unknown
Courage, mischief, and quiet acts of kindness ripple through a close-knit community of children as they navigate everyday rural adventures.
Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch
Alice B. Emerson
A young woman’s summer vacation on a Montana cattle ranch turns into an unexpected rescue mission when she discovers a mysterious man hiding in an abandoned mine.
Tedric
E. E. (Edward Elmer) Smith
This story of a master blacksmith who defies his brutal, sacrifice-demanding gods offers a brisk, muscular blend of ancient-world grit and high-concept science fiction. It remains a notable relic of a foundational era in pulp storytelling.
The Cruise of the "Janet Nichol" Among the South Sea Islands: A Diary
Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson
A vivid, unvarnished record of life on a trading schooner, this diary captures the strange, vanishing world of the South Sea Islands at the close of the nineteenth century through a keen, observant eye.
The Hispaniola Plate (1683-1893)
John Bloundelle-Burton
A sweeping tale of high-seas adventure, this narrative bridges two centuries to recover a sunken Spanish fortune and settle a score with a murderous, long-forgotten pirate.
The Little Girl Lost: A Tale for Little Girls
Eleanor Raper
Lost in the crowded streets of Peking, a little English girl is spirited away into the Chinese countryside by a family seeking a ransom.
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 27: Expelled from Spain
Giacomo Casanova
A weary Venetian gentleman wanders the roads of eighteenth-century Spain and Italy, fleeing his past debts, dodging jealous authorities, and finding that even an aging libertine cannot outrun the quiet onset of regret.
The Mississippi Saucer
Frank Belknap Long
A young shantyboat boy teasing riverboat captains with a bullfrog finds his humble life shattered when an otherworldly craft crashes into the Mississippi.
The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake
Laura Lee Hope
Summer brings a motorboat, a runaway horse, missing legal papers, and a lake ghost to four lively high school chums.
The Pioneer Boys of the Ohio
St. George Rathborne
HOOK Two brothers venture into the untamed Ohio wilderness, battling wolves, forest fires, and frontier enemies to secure a new home and restore their family's tarnished name.
The Pygmy Planet
Jack Williamson
A desk-bound copywriter answered a desperate call, only to step through a hidden laboratory threshold into an impossibly small world where human intellects inhabit metallic horrors.
The tale of Snowball Lamb
Arthur Scott Bailey
A spirited farmyard lamb stumbles into trouble when his eagerness to play with humans, tease his elders, and dodge farm chores leaves him standing out from the rest of the flock.
The Unpublishable Memoirs
A. S. W. (Abraham Simon Wolf) Rosenbach
These tales trace the exhilarating, often unscrupulous lives of bibliophiles who would risk social standing, personal relationships, and even legal peril to possess the world’s rarest literary treasures.
Three Sailor Boys
Verney Lovett Cameron
Three young sailors find themselves cast away in the Pacific after a sudden storm separates them from their cruel shipmates. They must rely on their own ingenuity, resourcefulness, and faith to survive the perils of isolation and hostile encounters.
Trumpeter Fred: A Story of the Plains
Charles King
A young trumpeter finds himself accused of theft and desertion while caught in the dangerous crossfire of a frontier war. This story follows his struggle to clear his name and prove his loyalty.
Young Hilda at the Wars
Arthur Gleason
A young American woman volunteers as a Red Cross nurse in Belgium during World War I, facing danger and hardship to save lives.
Bob Hampton of Placer
Randall Parrish
The frontier is a place of harsh truths and hidden pasts, where a cynical gambler and a nameless girl must navigate a landscape of violence to find the truth of their own origins.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 423: Volume 17, New Series, February 7, 1852
Various
This mid-nineteenth-century periodical offers a fascinating window into the Victorian mind, blending practical travelogues, social commentary, and scientific curiosity. It captures the era's restless spirit of exploration and its earnest pursuit of self-improvement.
Indian and Scout: A Tale of the Gold Rush to California
F. S. (Frederick Sadleir) Brereton
A young man wrongly accused of a crime flees across the American frontier, finding unlikely redemption and fortune amidst the perils of the gold rush.
Jessica Trent: Her Life on a Ranch
Evelyn Raymond
HOOK A young girl living on a rugged California ranch must solve a series of mounting mysteries to save her home from ruin, proving her mettle against betrayal and shifting fortunes.
Motor Matt's "Century" Run
Stanley R. Matthews
The open road in early 20th-century Arizona demands a steady hand and a fast machine. When a desperate governor needs a courier, a young mechanic must race against time and outrun a gang of ruthless smugglers.
Newton Forster
Frederick Marryat
A young merchant mariner navigates the brutal realities of the Napoleonic-era navy and the schemes of high society to claim his own destiny. This seafaring journey balances hard-won professional ambition with a tender, enduring quest for personal belonging.
Orange and Green: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
A sweeping historical chronicle of the Williamite War in Ireland, where two families on opposite sides of the conflict find their fates intertwined by loyalty, courage, and the bonds of personal honor.
Ross Grant, Tenderfoot
John Garland
A young medical student arrives in the Wyoming wilderness to manage mining claims, only to be stranded by a mysterious guide and forced to survive a brutal winter in the isolation of the mountains.