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British Literature — page 112
5,898 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 112 of 123.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 290, December 29, 1827
Various
An eclectic slice of Regency print culture, this gazetteer of antiquities, seasonal folklore, and technological innovation captures a nation poised between ancient superstition and industrial power.
The New Paul and Virginia
W. H. (William Hurrell) Mallock
A stranded scientist and a pious socialite attempt to reconcile their conflicting worldviews on a deserted island, revealing the absurdity of rigid ideology in the face of human nature.
The Son of His Father
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
HOOK A young man unravels the stifling secrets of his childhood, only to discover that the truth of his identity is a burden his own family is determined to keep hidden.
The Time of Roses
L. T. Meade
A young woman who sells her authorial voice to survive in London finds that deceit pays high immediate dividends but exacts a terrible toll on the soul.
The Village by the River
H. Louisa Bedford
The quiet life of a rural English village is irrevocably altered when a young, idealistic socialist inherits the manor and finds himself at odds with the local rector.
Colville of the Guards, Volume 3 (of 3)
James Grant
Amidst the smoke of Afghan battlefields and the dark, treacherous canals of Hamburg, two loyal souls fight to reclaim their honor and their love.
Cottage Folk
Alice Vansittart Strettel Carr
These sketches capture the quiet, often harsh realities of English country life, painting intimate portraits of laborers and their families struggling against poverty, social judgment, and the heavy weight of their own choices.
Harry Joscelyn
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
The silence of the north country fells is frequently shattered by the volatile tempers of a father and son, leaving the women of the household to navigate the wreckage of their broken family life.
John, A Love Story
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
A carriage accident brings a reckless, charming young heiress into the orbit of a quiet country rectory, irrevocably altering the life of the rector’s son. This is a story of shifting allegiances, the weight of parental expectation, and the turbulent transition from youth to adult responsibility.
John Bull
George Colman
A hot-tempered brazier faces ruin when his daughter disappears, triggering a collision between the rigid morality of the working class and the careless indiscretions of the landed gentry.
Men of Affairs
Roland Pertwee
A penniless man enters the world of high-stakes corporate espionage, trading his freedom for a chance to play a dangerous game against powerful financiers. This gripping tale of identity and endurance follows one man’s attempt to outwit a ruthless syndicate determined to extract a secret worth millions.
Splashing Into Society
Iris Barry
Two social climbers from the humblest of beginnings ascend to the very peak of London’s elite, armed only with a dead uncle’s legacy and a relentless, hilarious commitment to being "smart.
Swetnam, the Woman-hater, arraigned by women: A new comedie, acted at the Red Bull, by the late Queenes seruants
Anonymous
A sharp, satirical response to the 17th-century misogyny that defined its era, this play stages a mock trial where women turn the tables on their most vocal detractor.
The Interlude of Wealth and Health
Anonymous
This moral drama depicts the precarious harmony of a nation, cautioning that material prosperity and physical well-being are easily undermined by the volatile forces of unchecked human impulse.
The Master Craftsman
Walter Besant
Two cousins from the Wapping boatyards navigate the rigid divides of Victorian society, trading the secrets of the past for a chance at high-stakes political futures.
The Mysteries of Heron Dyke: A Novel of Incident. Volume 3 (of 3)
T. W. (Thomas Wilkinson) Speight
A sudden death at a sprawling country estate pulls a young woman into a labyrinth of ancestral secrets and hidden impostors.
The Top of the World
Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell
The path to the highest peak is rarely found in easy terrain, but rather through the grueling climb of human devotion and the quiet, steady persistence of the heart.
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The weaker vessel [Night watches, Part 4.]
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
A small, downtrodden woman suddenly secures a modest independent income, triggering a silent, high-stakes power struggle against her domineering husband. It is a sharp, witty comedy about the redistribution of domestic leverage.
"This was a man"
Noël Coward
A sophisticated, unhappily married woman tests the limits of her husband’s patience, only to find that his cold indifference is the most devastating weapon of all.
Two Strangers
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
The story of a man haunted by a past he cannot outrun, this narrative follows a traveler who discovers that the woman he loves is the wife he once abandoned. Beneath the surface of a quiet country house, secrets of marriage and memory quietly unravel.
Who?
Elizabeth Kent
A man finds himself trapped in a web of his own making, forced to protect a mysterious woman to preserve his honor while spiraling deeper into a dangerous, life-altering deception. Caught between a murder investigation and a tangled web of secret identities, he must decide whether to continue his desperate charade…
Won at last
Agnes Giberne
The struggle to define one's own path in the face of family expectation and financial scarcity forms the heart of this quiet, domestic drama. It explores how duty to others and faith in one's own character can eventually lead to a sense of belonging and resolution.
A Damaged Reputation
Harold Bindloss
A down-on-his-luck rancher in the British Columbian wilderness takes on risky contracts, battling rugged terrain, cunning rivals, and his own past.
Devereux
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
This sweeping historical novel follows the restless, intellectual journey of a young Englishman as he navigates the political intrigue and philosophical crises of the early eighteenth century. It is a portrait of a man shaped by loss, travel, and the arduous search for spiritual certainty.
Diana Tempest, Volume II
Mary Cholmondeley
A high-society romance where a shadow of dark secrets, ancient fortunes, and deadly stakes threatens to undo a budding bond.
Farina
George Meredith
HOOK In a medieval Cologne shadowed by legend and dark superstition, a young dreamer must outwit a robber baron and his own insecurities to rescue the woman he loves.
It May Be True, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Wood, Henry, Mrs.
This mid-Victorian melodrama centers on the intersecting lives of a landed family and their dependents, where social expectations and hidden romantic longings lead to profound personal turmoil. It explores the heavy, often tragic, cost of pride and the quiet suffering of those trapped in loveless or misunderstood…
Night and Morning, Volume 1
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A sudden death strips two brothers of their inheritance and social standing, forcing them to navigate a world that views their poverty as a moral failing and their legitimacy as an inconvenient lie.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, June 11, 1892
Various
This collection captures the frantic, witty, and deeply parochial pulse of late-Victorian England, filtering the era’s political anxieties and social pretensions through a lens of relentless satire.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, June 25, 1892
Various
A spirited, satirical time capsule of late-Victorian London, this collection captures the political maneuvering, social scandals, and theatrical whims of 1892 through wit that remains sharp and irreverent.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, January 21, 1893
Various
This collection of 1893 weekly satire offers a sharp, witty snapshot of Victorian society, capturing the anxieties and trivialities of the era through sketches, mock-examinations, and theatrical commentary. It serves as a humorous record of a world balancing between rigid social decorum and the encroaching…
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, September 19, 1917
Various
This collection of wit, satire, and commentary captures the distinct, embattled atmosphere of London during the autumn of 1917. It serves as a sharp-edged mirror to a society grappling with the fatigue of a prolonged, global conflict.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, December 29, 1920
Various
This collection captures the sharp, cynical, and weary wit of post-war London, where the end of 1920 is met not with grand idealism, but with dry humor and a longing for normalcy.
Rank and Talent
William Pitt Scargill
The tangled lives of an aging aristocrat and his spendthrift heir reveal the fragile boundary where ancestral pride meets the stark necessity of the marketplace.
Ships that pass in the night
Beatrice Harraden
The world is filled with individuals who, like passing ships, briefly illuminate one another’s shadows before drifting back into the dark. Two such souls, isolated by illness and temperament, find an unexpected, fragile tether in their shared solitude.
The Convict Ship, Volume 2 (of 3)
William Clark Russell
A young woman disguised as a boy stows away on a convict ship to reach her wrongfully imprisoned sweetheart, only to find herself trapped in a brutal, volatile floating prison. This gripping maritime drama explores the thin line between justice and vengeance at the mercy of the sea.
The holiday round
A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne
This collection of sketches and short stories captures the lighthearted, often exasperating, and always witty rhythm of early 20th-century English leisure. It is a portrait of a social set that values clever conversation, the absurdity of small-town rules, and the cheerful avoidance of anything approaching real labor.
The Judgment of Eve
May Sinclair
The choices we make in our youth often construct the very cages we must inhabit in middle age. This story traces the quiet, relentless erosion of a romantic ideal under the weight of domestic reality.
The secret of Oaklands
M. Harding (Minnie Harding) Kelly
After the sudden death of her father and the loss of her fortune, a young woman must forge a new life as a governess, discovering unexpected secrets hidden within an isolated country estate.
The Seven Conundrums
E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
Three down-and-out performers trade their autonomy for a year of luxury, serving a mysterious benefactor who pulls them into a series of baffling, high-stakes international puzzles.
Whipperginny
Robert Graves
This collection of poems navigates the fractured landscape of post-war disillusionment, blending sharp, intellectual inquiry with a desperate, lyrical search for personal and philosophical equilibrium.
A Mere Chance: A Novel. Vol. 3
Ada Cambridge
A young woman, separated from her true love by a web of deception, finds herself married to a wealthy, older man. When the truth finally comes to light, she must navigate the difficult intersection of duty and desire.
Betsy Baker! or, Too Attentive by Half
John Maddison Morton
A suffocatingly doting husband finds his marriage turned upside down when his wife’s cousin devises a scheme to cure his obsession with jealousy. It is a brisk farce exploring the fine, often hilarious line between affection and emotional entrapment.
Dialogue between John and Thomas, on the Corn Laws, the Charter, Teetotalism, and the Probable Remedy for the Present Disstresses
Unknown
Two working-class men debate the causes of their country’s economic collapse, searching for a remedy that might lift them from the widespread destitution of the early 1840s.
Epistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry (1700) and the Essay on Heroic Poetry (second edition, 1697)
Samuel Wesley
Can a Christian poet abandon classical myths, embrace sacred truth, and construct an enduring epic around the life of Jesus Christ?
Harry Muir
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
A young man inherits a grand Scottish estate, only to discover that sudden wealth is a fragile, demanding burden that threatens to undo his family's peace.
How to Settle Accounts with your Laundress: An Original Farce, in One Act
J. Stirling (Joseph Stirling) Coyne
A tailor’s romantic aspirations are hilariously derailed when his jilted laundress stages a mock suicide, leading to a night of mistaken identities, terrified confessions, and a very crowded supper.
May Day with the Muses
Robert Bloomfield
HOOK An elderly gentleman invites his tenants to pay their half-year’s rent not with gold, but with original songs and stories, sparking a vibrant day of communal celebration, music, and storytelling on his estate.