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British Literature — page 133
6,377 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 133 of 133.
The Story of Bessie Costrell
Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
A tragedy of rural poverty, this narrative tracks the ruinous consequences of a single moment of weakness. It examines how a small, stolen inheritance unravels the lives of those caught in its wake.
A Temporary Dead-Lock: 1891
Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone) Janvier
Separated by mislaid addresses, crossed wires, and their own comedic absent-mindedness, a Minneapolis rector and his devoted wife spend two agonizing days marooned directly across the street from one another in New York City.
Country Lodgings
Mary Russell Mitford
A young widow and a mysterious foreign exile find romance in a crumbling country manor, testing the boundaries of social status, personal sacrifice, and the true nature of love.
Cumner's Son and Other South Sea Folk
Gilbert Parker
The South Pacific serves as both a stage for imperial ambition and a mirror for the human soul in this collection of colonial-era tales. These stories explore the fragile boundary between civilization and the wild, often with a wry, melancholic detachment.
Donovan Pasha, and Some People of Egypt
Gilbert Parker
This collection of interconnected tales captures the volatile intersection of British administrative ambition and the ancient, enduring rhythms of life along the Nile. It offers a vivid, often somber window into a world of colonial duty, local intrigue, and personal sacrifice.
A Strange Story
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
This Victorian narrative explores the fragile boundary between empirical science and the uncanny, forcing a skeptical mind to confront phenomena that defy rational explanation. It is a haunting, intellectual meditation on the limits of human knowledge.
Principle and Practice: The Orphan Family
Harriet Martineau
Finding honest work and maintaining family bonds is a quiet, heroic struggle for those left behind by tragedy. This narrative explores the dignity found in modest, everyday industry.
The Translation of a Savage, Volume 1
Gilbert Parker
A jilted man marries a North American Indigenous woman out of spite, only to send her alone to his high-society family in England, triggering a collision of worlds and expectations.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 146, January 7, 1914
Various
The turn of the year is a time for solemn resolutions and the inevitable, humorous realization that one’s best intentions are often no match for the sluggishness of human nature.
A British Islander: From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899
Mary Hartwell Catherwood
A woman of formidable will and eccentric habits orchestrates the romantic fate of her niece, using the surreal domestic management of her fort-dwelling menagerie to force a hesitant suitor into decisive action.
One of Our Conquerors
George Meredith
A man of soaring ambition finds his domestic peace shadowed by the rigid social conventions of his time, forcing him to confront the limits of his own influence over those he loves.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105, August 5th 1893
Various
HOOK A satirical snapshot of Victorian life, this collection gathers the biting wit, political scandals, and whimsical fancies that defined the humor of the 1890s.
The Caxtons: A Family Picture
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A young man navigates the transition from protected childhood to the complexities of the wider world, testing the strength of his family’s values against the allure of ambition and the sting of unrequited love.
The Disowned
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
An intricate tapestry of ambition, political idealism, and systemic corruption, this narrative weaves the fates of a devious swindler and a noble, doomed philosopher.
Ernest Maltravers
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A restless intellect finds its match in a woman bound by duty, leading to a profound transformation of character that echoes long after the final page is turned.
Ernest Maltravers
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
This story of a young woman’s resilience against the backdrop of Victorian social rigidity reveals the hidden costs of keeping secrets and the heavy weight of inherited trauma. It explores the tension between individual moral intuition and the unforgiving judgment of a class-conscious society.
Pelham
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A refined, ambitious young man navigates the treacherous waters of nineteenth-century British high society, using wit and impeccable tailoring as his primary weapons in a world defined by vanity and shifting political loyalties.
The belles of Canterbury
Anna Bird Stewart
HOOK When a disgruntled student complains about The Canterbury Tales, the legendary pilgrims themselves emerge from a library bookcase to teach her a lesson in literature, patience, and love.
The Caxtons: A Family Picture
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
The quiet wisdom of a scholar’s hearth offers the only true refuge when the turbulent passions of youth collide with the rigid expectations of the world.
The Caxtons: A Family Picture
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
This family portrait captures the quiet dignity of a scholar’s household and the restless spirit of his son, tracing how a young man’s ambitions are shaped by his father’s wisdom and the allure of a wider, more complicated world. It is a contemplative study of character, moving gently from the sanctuary of a…
The Gentleman of Fifty and The Damsel of Nineteen (An early uncompleted fragment)
George Meredith
A middle-aged man of leisure and a spirited young woman attempt to study one another, only to find their own hidden vanities and romantic histories unraveling their carefully constructed defenses.
The Story Of The Prophet Jonas
William Tyndale
A prophet attempts to outrun a divine mission, only to discover that mercy is a force he cannot command. This account follows a man’s reluctant journey toward an enemy city and his eventual confrontation with the nature of forgiveness.
Town Versus Country
Mary Russell Mitford
A young man returns from London draped in urban affectations, only to discover that the rural world and the woman he left behind are still waiting for his return.
Ernest Maltravers
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
The life of a man is measured not by his possessions, but by the weight of his own conscience and the relentless pursuit of his intellectual ideals. Through the shifting tides of fame and personal history, one must learn to reconcile the romantic impulses of youth with the sobering duties of the world.
Lord Ormont and His Aminta
George Meredith
The high-ranking British officer who keeps his young wife in a state of gilded, restrictive isolation eventually learns that a spirit denied its freedom will inevitably find its own path to the light.
Lord Ormont and His Aminta
George Meredith
A neglected young countess, bound to a distant veteran general and shadowed by social hypocrisy, finds her true calling and companionship alongside an idealistic schoolmaster.
Son Philip
George Manville Fenn
A young man steps into the perilous depths of a coal mine, determined to use his education to save lives despite the deep-seated resentment and dangerous defiance of the veteran miners.
One Day At Arle
Frances Hodgson Burnett
A tragic dispute between a Lancashire fisherwoman and her deceitful husband leads to an inescapable tide on the sands of Arle.
The Rector
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
When a retiring academic leaves his beloved college sanctuary to take a quiet country parish, he discovers that pastoral life demands far more than scholarly isolation.
The Beauty Of The Village
Mary Russell Mitford
A vain young woman’s beauty draws the wrong kind of admiration, leading her down a perilous path of self-will until an unexpected calamity reshapes her life and character.
The Caxtons: A Family Picture
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A hardened, estranged young man finds his way back to his father's loving heart through patience, bitter trials, and the quiet reclamation of family honor.
The Levellers: A Dialogue Between Two Young Ladies, Concerning Matrimony, Proposing an Act for Enforcing Marriage, for the Equality of Matches, and Taxing Single Persons
Anonymous
Two women converse under a green bower, debating whether the state should force marriage upon single citizens and level the extravagant financial demands of courtship.
Ernest Maltravers
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
In the opulent country villas and London drawing rooms of the nineteenth century, an intellectual romance curdles into bitter suspicion, manipulation, and tragic alienation under the quiet watch of calculating relatives.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 93, December 17, 1887
Various
This collection captures the sharp, satirical pulse of late Victorian London, balancing biting political commentary with the absurdities of daily life as seen through the eyes of a legendary humor magazine.
Honor O'Callaghan
Mary Russell Mitford
The transformation of a lonely, romantic girl into a contented, practical woman reveals how the passage of time and the weight of "common-place" life can rewrite our most cherished personal myths.
Lord Ormont and His Aminta
George Meredith
Pride meets a gypsy-like countess and a quiet secretary on English downs, where marital chess becomes a quiet game of pull.
Kenelm Chillingly
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A young man of gentle birth, bound by an unconventional spirit, navigates the deep currents of love and ambition while seeking his true place in a complex English society.
A House Divided Against Itself
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
When a family splits across continents, two very different sisters discover that stepping into each other's worlds brings unexpected friction, sharp social traps, and quiet reckonings.
Ernest Maltravers
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
An ambitious young man navigates the labyrinth of political life and aristocratic ambition, discovering that the highest triumphs of worldly success often exact a bitter toll upon the human heart.
Lord Ormont and His Aminta
George Meredith
A spirited young countess, bound to an unyielding and socially silent British hero, discovers that freedom requires stepping beyond the rigid architecture of Victorian marriage.
The Caxtons: A Family Picture
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
A young man resolves to leave his quiet English home for the untamed wilds of Australia, rallying his eccentric family and an unlikely band of companions to forge a new destiny.