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British Literature — page 130
6,377 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 130 of 133.
Captain Mary Miller
Harriet Jane Hanson Robinson
HOOK A determined woman takes the helm of a Mississippi steamboat, challenging both the treacherous river currents and the rigid laws that refuse to recognize her authority.
Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 14, Vol. I, April 5, 1884
Various
This edition of a Victorian miscellany serves as a concentrated window into the intellectual and social preoccupations of 1884, blending serious economic inquiry with domestic sentimentality and gripping, often macabre, storytelling.
"My Novel"
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
An intricate, sprawling portrait of English society, this story follows the intersecting lives of ambitious schemers, noble exiles, and earnest country gentlemen.
Nurse Elisia
George Manville Fenn
The lives of an aristocratic family in Lincolnshire are irrevocably altered when a quiet, devoted woman enters their home as a medical caregiver. Her arrival exposes long-simmering tensions and forces the household to confront their own fragile morality.
Our Frank: and other stories
Amy Walton
These tales capture the quiet gravity of childhood, where the smallest decisions—to run away, to keep a secret, or to show kindness—carry the weight of a turning life. They are gentle echoes of a pastoral England that feels both distant and deeply familiar.
Pelham
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
The life of a gentleman is a performance, and to master the stage of 19th-century society requires both a razor-sharp wit and a coat cut by a master tailor. Beneath the vanity of the ballroom lies a darker world where reputation is currency and the smallest lapse in judgment can lead to ruin.
Pelham
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A dandy with a sharp mind navigates the treacherous underworld of 19th-century London to clear a friend’s name. Beneath the polished veneer of high society lies a gritty, often dangerous quest for justice.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, August 15, 1917
Various
This volume captures the singular, surreal atmosphere of the British home front and the front lines during the late summer of 1917, blending biting political satire with the wry, resilient observations of those caught in the machinery of the Great War.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, November 8, 1890
Various
A small girl skips into a smoke-filled officer's mess to explain that a satirical author has already scripted their deaths, marriages, and literary sequels.
Recollections of a chaperon
Arabella Jane Sullivan
A quiet, observant guide navigates the complexities of domestic life, marriage, and the social pressures of 19th-century England. Through a series of reflective sketches, the complexities of human emotion are laid bare.
The Amazing Marriage
George Meredith
The aristocrat marries the mountain girl on a whim, only to abandon her on their wedding day. This cold choice binds them in a lifelong struggle of pride, regret, and the slow, painful awakening of a conscience.
The Law and Lawyers of Pickwick: A Lecture
Lockwood, Frank, Sir
Lawyers are often the villains of fiction, yet they remain essential figures in the world’s most beloved stories. This lecture offers a sharp, witty appraisal of the legal profession as depicted in a classic Victorian masterpiece.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 405, December 19, 1829
Various
This collection offers a nineteenth-century window into a world of diverse curiosities, blending historical scholarship, technical observations, and intimate reflections on the human experience.
A Charming Fellow, Volume III
Frances Eleanor Trollope
A man of irresistible charm masks a hollow interior, weaving a web of deceit that leads to tragedy in a small, provincial town. He navigates life by vanity and convenience, leaving destruction in his wake.
Beauchamp's Career
George Meredith
A young idealist struggles to reconcile his radical political convictions with the rigid, aristocratic expectations of his family and the woman he loves. This deeply observed study of character explores the collision between individual passion and the relentless gravity of social duty.
Falkland, Book 4
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A man haunted by the shadows of his past seeks a final, forbidden love, only to find that the weight of his previous transgressions and the fragility of his own soul make peace impossible.
Miser Farebrother: A Novel (vol. 3 of 3)
B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon
This Victorian mystery centers on a stolen diamond bracelet, a cold-blooded murder, and the struggle of a young woman wrongly accused of killing her own father. It is a dense, fast-moving narrative of greed, loyalty, and the redemptive power of family love.
Proper pride
B. M. (Bithia Mary) Croker
A soldier returns from war to a wife who has long lived in isolation, forced into a fragile reconciliation by the crushing weight of small-town judgment.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, 1920-09-01
Various
This collection of mid-1920s satire offers a sharp, witty glimpse into the anxieties and absurdities of post-war British life. It captures a society navigating the transition from global conflict to the complexities of modern domesticity.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, January 9, 1892
Various
This quintessential artifact of late-Victorian culture captures the pulse of 1892 London, blending satirical wit, social commentary, and the peculiar anxieties of an empire standing on the precipice of a new century.
The Caxtons: A Family Picture
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A young man’s journey to London becomes a quiet exploration of family legacy, the weight of hidden shame, and the search for purpose in a rapidly modernizing world.
A Strange Story
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A rational man of science finds his rigid worldview shattered when he encounters a youthful, enigmatic stranger who seems to possess powers beyond the grasp of modern reason.
Enter Bridget
Thomas Cobb
This light-hearted comedy of manners follows a group of London socialites whose carefully ordered lives are disrupted by the arrival of a charming, enigmatic young woman. It is a story of shifting allegiances, misunderstandings, and the pursuit of happiness among those who have too much time on their hands.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, May 23, 1891
Various
This hundredth volume of a storied British institution captures the late Victorian era through a lens of relentless, biting satire. It serves as a time capsule of a society obsessed with its own political tangles, social posturing, and the trivialities of daily life.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 561, August 11, 1832
Various
A diverse collection of nineteenth-century observations, this periodical offers a sprawling, intellectual window into the past, capturing everything from the ruins of ancient nunneries to the death of literary giants.
The Parisians
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A man of honor navigates the treacherous currents of late 19th-century Parisian society, caught between a hidden, burdensome past and the beckoning promise of a new life.
What Will He Do with It?
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A man of great intellect, haunted by his failure to leave a legacy, confronts the intersection of his own past and a young girl’s future. This sprawling Victorian drama explores the heavy price of pride and the redemptive power of hidden virtues.
Belles and Ringers
Hawley Smart
The hunt is on, not just for foxes, but for the most eligible matches in the English countryside. In this high-stakes game of manners, a clever young woman turns the tables on her own chaperones.
Dialstone Lane, Part 2
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
Conspiring for a buried treasure on a distant island, three improbable adventurers map out a desperate voyage from their quiet English seaport.
Effie Ogilvie: the story of a young life
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
A young woman’s quiet life is upended by the arrival of a wealthy, fashionable family, forcing her to navigate the treacherous gap between romantic expectation and the cold calculations of those who manage her future.
Miss Philly Firkin, The China-Woman
Mary Russell Mitford
A village shopkeeper and her boisterous publican neighbor move from bitter feud to unexpected romance through the clever meddling of a local lad. This witty tale of provincial life captures the absurdity of small-town rivalries.
Nearly Lost but Dearly Won
Theodore P. Wilson
This story follows the moral awakening of an isolated, eccentric man and the tragic unraveling of a family ensnared by the social drinking habits of their time. It is a cautionary tale that explores the heavy price of indulgence.
Punch or the London Charivari, Vol.107, September 1, 1894
Various
This vibrant collection captures the pulse of late Victorian London, offering a kaleidoscopic view of a society preoccupied with political maneuvering, social etiquette, and the persistent, biting humor of the day. It provides a unique window into a world where parliamentary debates, the "three-volume novel," and…
Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, October 21, 1914
Various
Dive into the wit and satire of *Punch* magazine, offering a unique perspective on early 20th-century life, politics, and culture.
Punch, or The London Charivari, Vol. 150, April 19, 1916
Various
A biting, satirical time capsule of the Great War, this collection captures the stiff-upper-lip absurdity, political friction, and dark humor of an England bracing for the long haul of 1916.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, 19 April 1890
Various
This collection of weekly dispatches from April 1890 captures the manic, satirical pulse of Victorian London, where the trivial and the momentous collide with equal comedic force. It is a time capsule of a society that balanced high-minded political anxiety with a profound, almost absurd, devotion to the lighter…
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, March 26, 1919
Various
This volume gathers the weekly pulse of British life in March 1919, capturing a society caught in the awkward, weary, and faintly absurd transition from the Great War to a restless peace. It serves as a time capsule of post-armistice anxieties, where the prospect of a "League of Nations" competes for attention with…
Rose Cottage
Eleanora H. Stooke
This tender, moralizing tale explores how the quiet influence of faith and the steadfast kindness of a community can transform a struggling, fractured family. It is a gentle portrait of rural life that centers on the redemptive power of simple devotion.
The Disowned
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
The story unfolds as a sprawling, ambitious nineteenth-century social novel, exploring the tensions between aristocratic lineage, personal integrity, and the volatile political spirit of the age. It follows the odyssey of a young man long denied his heritage, whose quest for identity forces him to confront both the…
The Scribleriad, and The Difference Between Verbal and Practical Virtue
Anonymous
The literary feuds of the eighteenth century reached a fever pitch in 1742, transforming the London printing houses into a battlefield of biting verse and personal invective. These polemical works serve as a sharp, often savage, record of a culture obsessed with status, reputation, and the power of the printed word.
Celt and Saxon
George Meredith
The journey of a young Irishman into the heart of Wales pulls him into a long-standing family crisis, where the collision of personal loyalties and national identity becomes impossible to ignore.
Godolphin, Volume 1
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A young man of immense potential drifts through the aimless excesses of high society, while a brilliant, ambitious woman schemes to reclaim her family’s lost prestige.
Honesty the best policy
Anonymous
HOOK A steady, plain-spoken farmer finds himself embroiled in the petty, shifting intrigues of county politics. He discovers that the most effective way to outmaneuver the cunning is simply to refuse to play their games.
Lauds and libels
Charles L. (Charles Larcom) Graves
The war-weary soul finds a surprising sanctuary in these verses, where the mundane struggles of a nation under fire are met with a wry, defiant, and quintessentially British sense of humor.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 109, July 13, 1895
Various
This collection captures the sharp-tongued spirit of Victorian London, blending theatrical reviews, political satire, and droll observations into a witty chronicle of mid-summer life in 1895.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, February 6, 1892
Various
This vibrant collection of satire, parody, and commentary captures the Victorian zeitgeist, offering a witty, biting, and quintessentially English look at the social and political landscape of early 1892.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, December 31, 1892
Various
The old year ends in a quiet, weary fellowship of broken dreams, where the only thing left to do is exchange the traditional greeting for the one about to begin.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, March 17, 1920
Various
This collection captures the sharp, satirical pulse of post-war London, offering a witty snapshot of a society grappling with the absurdities of peace, politics, and the changing tides of 1920.