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British Literature — page 31
1,768 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 31 of 37.
Much Ado about Nothing
William Shakespeare
Two sparks of wit collide in Messina, where a playful war of words between two confirmed bachelors masks a deeper, budding affection that survives betrayal and scandal.
The Christmas Books of Mr. M.A. Titmarsh
William Makepeace Thackeray
A playful, satirical fairy tale, this work blends royal intrigue with a sharp, observant wit, following the fortunes of two princes and a long-suffering knocker.
The Country House
John Galsworthy
The English countryside of the late nineteenth century finds its most vivid reflection in the quiet, rigid life of a family whose status is as rooted as the ancient oaks on their estate. This is a story of how a small, private fracture in a traditional household can threaten to dismantle a world built on…
Mary Marston
George MacDonald
The path of a faithful soul often leads through the narrow, crowded streets of common life, where the deepest miracles of character are found in the most unassuming of places.
A Child's Garden of Verses
Robert Louis Stevenson
A landscape of memory where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, these verses invite you to step through a nursery window into the boundless, imaginative terrain of a childhood that is both specific and universal.
Notes to the Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
These intimate remembrances serve as a living monument to a restless, visionary spirit, documenting the creative evolution of a poet whose life was as turbulent and defiant as the verses he left behind.
Shakespeare and the Modern Stage
Lee, Sidney, Sir
This collection of essays offers a measured, scholarly assessment of how the dramatic traditions of the past inform the stagecraft and public memory of the early twentieth century. It serves as a bridge between historical record and modern theatrical practice.
The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 07
John Dryden
This collection captures a pivotal moment in English letters, where the theater served as the primary battlefield for the nation’s deepest political and religious anxieties. These works resonate with the intensity of a culture fighting to define the reach of royal authority and the legitimacy of dissent.
Widdershins
Oliver Onions
The ordinary world is a thin veil, easily torn by the obsession of a solitary mind or the lingering weight of a house with a history. These stories explore the places where the rational and the spectral collide.
Alone
Norman Douglas
HOOK A seasoned traveler wanders through the sun-drenched hills and ancient ruins of wartime Italy, finding in its people and landscapes a persistent, defiant humanity.
An Englishwoman's Home
Annie S. Swan
This intimate record of life in the English war zone captures the quiet, profound erosion of a society under the relentless pressure of conflict. It is a testament to the resilience found in the face of inevitable, daily loss.
There & Back
George MacDonald
A young man discovers his true heritage, but finds that his identity lies not in a baronet’s title, but in the quiet dignity of a life lived with integrity, purpose, and faith.
William Shakespeare as He Lived: An Historical Tale
Henry Curling
The world’s most celebrated playwright begins as a misunderstood, daydreaming youth in Stratford, eventually rising from local obscurity to win the favor of Queen Elizabeth herself.
A Laodicean
Thomas Hardy
A young architect’s quest to restore a crumbling fortress sparks an unlikely romance with its wealthy, indecisive heiress, pulling them both into a conflict between modern ambition and the heavy weight of ancestral ghosts.
An Ocean Tramp
William McFee
The sea is not a romantic playground, but a vast, indifferent stage where modern men—mechanics and engineers—wrestle with the machinery of an industrial age to carve out their own hard-won character.
King Henry IV, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Caught between the weight of a crown and the allure of the tavern, a young prince must choose between his riotous companions and the brutal demands of a fracturing kingdom.
The Governess
Sarah Fielding
A small group of girls at a boarding school learn the hard-won value of harmony through shared stories and the guidance of their widowed governess.
The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Volume 1
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
This collection of scattered notes and reflections preserves the brilliant, wandering genius of a master critic, capturing the restless intellectual energy of a mind perpetually searching for the underlying connections between art, faith, and nature.
Amores: Poems
D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
The world is a landscape of restless desire and shadowed memory, where every human interaction vibrates with the electric, often painful, friction of hidden depths.
Simon the Jester
William John Locke
A witty, world-weary politician faces a terminal diagnosis and decides to abandon his stifling social life to become a "soldier of fortune," only to find his path irrevocably tangled with a charismatic circus performer.
The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus Made into a Farce
Christopher Marlowe
A legendary scholar trades his soul for twenty-four years of absolute power, only to find his path toward vanity and indulgence leads to a grotesque, slapstick end.
The Night Club
Herbert George Jenkins
A jovial London furniture mover finds his true calling as the life of a weekly social circle, where storytelling bridges the gap between classes during the Great War.
The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 15
John Dryden
The breadth of a foundational literary mind is captured here, balancing the heroic sweep of classical translation against the sharp, polemical debates that defined English drama and criticism at the close of the seventeenth century.
All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare
This play explores the collision between rigid social hierarchy and the persistence of desire, following a young woman who pursues an aristocratic husband despite his active refusal of her love. It is a work of uncomfortable truths and complex resolutions, sustained by the enduring question of whether a person can…
My Lady Ludlow
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
A gentle, aging narrator recounts the vanishing world of a rigid aristocrat, exploring the quiet tensions between tradition and the relentless march of a modernizing age.
Tales and Novels
Maria Edgeworth
These stories weave together the high-stakes politics of the British aristocracy, the intricate moral dilemmas of the landed gentry, and the quiet struggles of rural life with a sharp, discerning eye. They offer a vivid, unsentimental portrait of a society balancing public duty against private ambition.
The Quest of the Simple Life
W. J. (William James) Dawson
This is a meditative account of an urban professional who abandons the crushing pace of London for the quietude of the countryside. It serves as a gentle, reflective manifesto for those seeking to reclaim their health and autonomy.
Father Damien: An Open Letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde of Honolulu
Robert Louis Stevenson
The battle for a man’s reputation is fought not with swords, but with the searing precision of the written word. This fierce defense of a fallen hero strips away the polite veneer of religious hypocrisy to reveal the raw truth of human sacrifice.
Novel Notes
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
A series of sketches and vignettes masquerading as a conversation about literature, this book captures the bittersweet ache of unrealized ambitions. It is a collection of fragments that feels less like a novel and more like a quiet evening spent listening to a friend recount the oddities of life.
The Works of Max Beerbohm
Beerbohm, Max, Sir
A delicate exercise in artifice and wit, these essays celebrate the superficial as the only honest way to live. They offer a refined, unapologetic defense of style in a world growing increasingly coarse.
Unknown to History: A Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland
Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge
A young girl raised in a quiet English household discovers she is the daughter of a captive queen, setting her on a collision course with the brutal political machinations of the Elizabethan era.
A Warning to the Curious, and Other Ghost Stories
M. R. (Montague Rhodes) James
The past is not a passive museum of relics; it is a hungry, reaching thing that often demands a high price from those who disturb its rest.
Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860
George Saintsbury
These essays serve as a masterclass in literary appreciation, guiding readers through the lives and works of the great English writers who defined the era between 1780 and 1860.
The soul of a bishop
H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
A spiritual awakening unravels the rigid life of an Anglican bishop, forcing him to choose between the comfort of an ancient institution and the terrifying, direct demands of a living God.
![Cover of The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 1 of 9]: Introduction and Publisher's Advertising](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-works-of-william-shakespeare-cambridge-edition-vol-1-of-9.webp)
The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 1 of 9]: Introduction and Publisher's Advertising
William Shakespeare
This volume represents the introductory architectural framework of the monumental 1863 Cambridge edition of Shakespeare’s dramatic works. Rather than a singular narrative, it serves as a scholarly gateway, documenting the rigorous editorial methodology and historical context required to establish an authentic text…
Collected Poems: Volume Two
Alfred Noyes
This collection of verse captures the pulse of an era through rhythmic, narrative-driven poetry that seeks the extraordinary within the ordinary. It invites the reader into a world where myth and history collide, turning the mundane sights of London into vibrant, dreamlike tapestries.
Our Village
Mary Russell Mitford
A village is not merely a collection of houses, but a living, breathing tapestry of familiar faces and shared seasons, best understood through the steady, observant rhythm of a quiet walk.
The Secret of the League: The Story of a Social War
Ernest Bramah
Amid a future England paralyzed by class conflict and economic ruin, a quiet, conspiratorial resistance rises to challenge the established political order through a bloodless, calculated industrial revolt.
With the Night Mail: A Story of 2000 A.D.: (Together with extracts from the comtemporary magazine in which it appeared)
Rudyard Kipling
Navigating the crowded, electrified airways of a future century, a postal packet pilot faces the unforgiving elements and the hazards of a world transformed by the mastery of flight.
Lady Penelope
Morley Roberts
A young woman of formidable beauty and even more formidable theories decides to reform society by choosing a husband on her own radical terms, leaving her swarm of suitors chasing shadows.
Quality Street: A Comedy
J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
In a quiet country town, a woman chooses between her dignity and her heart after a long-lost suitor returns, only to find the girl he once loved has vanished into the weariness of time.
The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great
Henry Fielding
A master thief navigates the treacherous underworld of London, proving that the distance between a common criminal and a "great man" is often merely a matter of scale. This biting satire explores the mechanics of ambition, corruption, and the hollowness of worldly success.
The Listeners and Other Poems
Walter De la Mare
This collection captures the elusive borderland between the waking world and the realm of dreams. It serves as a quiet, haunting meditation on memory, the passage of time, and the persistence of the unseen.
Titus Andronicus
William Shakespeare
A Roman general returns from war to find his world consumed by a cycle of horrific vengeance. This relentless tragedy explores the thin line between justice and total moral ruin.
Melmoth the Wanderer, Vol. 1
Charles Robert Maturin
The Wanderer is a figure bound by a dark, infernal pact, traversing the centuries to offer others the same soul-destroying bargain he once accepted. He is a ghost of a man, haunted by the very eternity he possesses.
Seven Short Plays
Lady Gregory
These seven short plays capture the rhythm of Irish village life, where a stray whisper can ignite a wildfire of gossip or a stranger’s arrival can transform a town.
The Manchester Man
Banks, G. Linnaeus (George Linnaeus), Mrs.
In the bustling, soot-stained heart of early 19th-century Manchester, a nameless orphan plucked from a flood rises to define his own destiny through grit, industry, and the stubborn pursuit of integrity.
The Nether World
George Gissing
This sprawling, unflinching portrait of London’s late 19th-century working class tracks the collision between idealism and the grinding, inescapable pressures of urban poverty. It is an honest, somber examination of lives lived in the shadows.