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British Literature — page 101
5,719 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 101 of 120.
Helena
Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
A restless young woman and her weary, disillusioned guardian navigate the shifting social landscape of post-war England. Their lives intersect with a secret from the past that threatens to shatter the quiet stability they try to maintain.
Letters to His Son, 1753-54: On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of
These private letters serve as a meticulous manual for social and political advancement, transforming the intimate bond between a father and son into a rigorous, lifelong curriculum on the art of worldly success.
Little Miss Joy
Emma Marshall
In the quiet rows of a seaside town, a fragile child becomes the unlikely anchor for a community fractured by pride, long-held secrets, and the unforgiving pull of the sea.
Mary Jane Married: Tales of a Village Inn
George R. (George Robert) Sims
A former domestic servant turned hotelier chronicles the eccentric characters and shifting fortunes of her village inn. This candid, observant memoir captures the messy, vibrant reality of Victorian life from the vantage point of the pantry.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, January 19, 1916
Various
Beneath the polished front of Edwardian wit, a nation at war confronts its own anxieties through pointed satire, domestic absurdities, and trench-side humor.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-04-07
Various
A satirical slice of post-war British life, this single issue of Punch captures a nation navigating the absurdities of housing shortages, high taxes, and social change with dry, understated humor.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, September 26, 1891
Various
A satirical chronicle of Victorian life, this collection gathers the wit, anxieties, and social pretensions of 1891 into a sharp, humorous mirror of a changing England.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, April 2, 1919
Various
This volume captures the weary, witty spirit of a nation poised between the end of the Great War and the uncertainty of a fragile peace. It serves as a sharp-eyed mirror to the social and political anxieties of 1919.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, March 19, 1919
Various
Life in post-Armistice Britain moves forward with a mix of absurd bureaucratic confusion, weary relief, and sharp, persistent laughter.
Simon Called Peter
Robert Keable
The Great War acts as a crucible for a young chaplain, stripping away his clerical certainties and forcing him to confront the raw, unvarnished nature of human desire. This narrative captures a soul adrift, caught between the rigid conventions of his past and the visceral reality of life in the shadow of death.
The Broom-Squire
S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
A young woman, abandoned to a life of labor and a cold marriage, must navigate the social wreckage of a remote Surrey moor after a murder disrupts her fragile world.
The Crimson Blind
Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White
The discovery of a man bleeding on a conservatory floor pulls a successful novelist into a labyrinth of stolen keys, forged paintings, and a lost family heirloom. This mystery unravels through the clever persistence of an amateur investigator and a woman working undercover to clear a tarnished name.
The room
G. B. (Gladys Bronwyn) Stern
A young woman maneuvers her own scandalous ruin to liberate her husband, only to discover that the romantic heroism she craves is merely a hollow imitation of life.
A Manifest Destiny
Julia Magruder
A young American woman bets her beauty on the chance to secure a grand life in England, only to find the reality of her ambition is a hollow trap. This story traces the arc of an unlikely marriage and the search for redemption.
Amelia
Henry Fielding
A portrait of domestic struggle in eighteenth-century London, this story follows a virtuous wife and her flawed, impulsive husband as they navigate the treacherous waters of poverty, debt, and societal corruption.
Anderby Wold
Winifred Holtby
A strong-willed woman attempts to impose her vision of order upon a changing Yorkshire farming community, only to find that progress and personal desire are forces beyond her control.
Catherine herself
James Hilton
This is a portrait of a young woman’s collision with the boundaries of her own ambition and the rigid, often stifling expectations of early 20th-century life. It captures the quiet, sometimes crushing process of trading one’s youthful dreams for the safety of social conformity.
Concerning Isabel Carnaby
Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler
A sharp, witty exploration of Victorian social constraints, this novel examines the tension between worldly ambition and the quiet, persistent pull of conscience in the lives of two young people in love.
Divine Songs and Meditacions (1653)
Collins, An, active 17th century
The life of a soul is a long, arduous climb from the darkness of earthly affliction toward the steady light of divine grace. Through measured verse and prose reflection, a singular voice emerges from a seventeenth-century sickbed to map the terrain of faith.
Friendless Felicia
Eleanora H. Stooke
A solitary orphan discovers her place in a house of privilege, bringing light to a bitter recluse through the simple, unwavering sincerity of her faith.
Holly berries from Dickens
Charles Dickens
This collection distills the essence of a vast literary landscape into a daily companion, offering a curated selection of wisdom and moral reflection harvested from the expansive career of one of literature’s most observant chroniclers. It serves as a gentle survey of the human condition, mapped out in small,…
Homeward Bound: Sailor's Knots, Part 2
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
A domestic squabble escalates into a farcical game of cat and mouse when a husband leaves his wife, only to return as a secret lodger in her home. The result is a sharp, witty comedy of manners.
Modern literature: a novel, Volume 2 (of 3)
Robert Bisset
The seaside air of Brighton in the late eighteenth century proves as volatile as the shifting political loyalties of its visitors. Amidst the promenades and libraries, social reputation remains the only currency that truly matters.
"My Novel"
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
The path to happiness is rarely found in the pursuit of power or the clever manipulation of others, but in the quiet, often overlooked duties of the heart. True strength, this narrative suggests, lies not in the triumph of the intellect, but in the capacity to forgive and the courage to serve.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, November 27, 1841
Various
A sharp-witted chronicle of early Victorian life, this inaugural collection captures the frantic, ribald, and often absurd pulse of 1840s London through satire, theatrical critique, and social commentary.
The Departing Soul's Address to the Body: A Fragment of a Semi-Saxon Poem: Discovered Among the Archives of Worcester Cathedral
Samuel Weller Singer
A soul stands over its own decaying remains, delivering a harrowing final indictment of the life they once shared. This rare fragment captures a haunting dialogue between the spiritual and physical self at the moment of death.
Widger's Quotations from the Project Gutenberg Editions of the Works of Lord Chesterfield
Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of
This collection distills decades of private correspondence into a handbook for worldly success, emphasizing social grace, strategic restraint, and the calculated navigation of human vanity. It serves as a stark, practical guide to social survival.
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 16
Unknown
This collection of historical fiction and regional folklore preserves the voices and struggles of the Scottish Borders, capturing a vanishing world through tales of political rebellion, personal tragedy, and enduring human connection.
A Duel
Richard Marsh
A woman desperate for status stakes everything on a deathbed marriage, only to find herself trapped in a house of secrets where a fortune remains hidden behind a phantom’s will.
A Letter From a Clergyman to his Friend,: with an Account of the Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver
Anonymous
A fierce anonymous tract from 1726 unveils how Jonathan Swift’s newly published fantasy masked a bitter partisan attack on the English monarchy, church, and ministry.
Chastelard, a Tragedy
Algernon Charles Swinburne
A tragic exploration of obsession and royal power, this verse drama captures the fatal collision between a desperate French poet and a queen whose love demands a sacrifice of blood.
Clare Avery: A Story of the Spanish Armada
Emily Sarah Holt
HOOK Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Armada, this narrative traces the quiet lives and moral struggles of a family navigating the intense religious and social pressures of Elizabethan England.
Jenifer's Prayer
Oliver Crane
The shadows of the past exert a relentless gravity on the present, binding the lives of three women to a man who thrives on deceit. This narrative traces the hidden connections between a humble household and the elite circles of the English gentry, ultimately finding salvation in the quiet strength of unwavering…
Joan, the Curate
Florence Warden
Set against the wild, rugged coast of 18th-century Kent, an officer of the law finds his duty at violent odds with his heart when he falls for a woman protecting a local band of smugglers.
Lady Maude's Mania
George Manville Fenn
The arrival of a street organ outside a window acts as the catalyst for a desperate, high-society elopement, proving that love and obsession are often indistinguishable in the eyes of the aristocracy.
Lost Gip
Hesba Stretton
A young boy living in the squalor of Victorian London fights to protect his baby sister, only to find that even the most desperate lives can be transformed by unexpected kindness and faith.
Modern literature: a novel, Volume 3 (of 3)
Robert Bisset
This narrative follows a gentleman’s journey across England, serving as both a travelogue of the country’s landmarks and a sharp, polemical critique of radical politics, itinerant religion, and the perceived moral decay of the era.
More Bywords
Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge
This collection of short stories and vignettes captures the intersections of history, faith, and domestic life. Through a blend of prose and verse, it explores how individual integrity and quiet courage define the character of both the notable and the overlooked.
Punch or the London Charivari, September 9, 1914
Various
This snapshot of a nation at war captures the peculiar English habit of meeting existential dread with satirical cartoons, sharp-witted verse, and the stiffest of upper lips.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 21, 1841
Various
This collection captures the sharp, satirical pulse of 1841 London, blending biting political commentary with the absurdities of daily life. It serves as a time capsule of Victorian wit, skepticism, and social ambition.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, May 16, 1891
Various
A satirical chronicle of late-Victorian life, this collection blends sharp political commentary with whimsical verse and sketches, capturing the irreverent spirit of a society balancing tradition against the march of modernity.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 108, February 16, 1895
Various
A vibrant, chaotic snapshot of Victorian life, blending sharp political satire with the absurdities of daily existence in the deep chill of 1895.
Punch, or, the London Charivari, Volume 98, March 8, 1890
Various
This collection of late-Victorian satire captures a nation in the midst of rapid transition, where the pomp of the establishment constantly teeters on the edge of the absurd. It serves as a mirror held up to the manners, politics, and anxieties of 1890s London.
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 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 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 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 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.