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British Literature — page 56
4,542 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 56 of 95.
The Master Spirit
Magnay, William, Sir
A promising young lawyer enters a dark pact with a brilliant, bedridden genius to climb the professional ladder, only to find himself entangled in a murder mystery that threatens his life and his love.
The Soldier and Death: A Russian Folk Tale Told in English by Arthur Ransome
Arthur Ransome
This folktale captures the quintessential Russian spirit—courage, stubbornness, and a wry sense of justice—as a humble soldier outsmarts the supernatural. It is an extraordinary, dark, and frequently funny journey through the afterlife that leaves the reader questioning the morality of its immortal protagonist.
Tom and Maggie Tulliver
George Eliot
A fierce, impulsive girl and her rigid, practical brother clash across a rural childhood, bound together by an intense family loyalty that neither can fully break.
A House to Let
Charles Dickens
A lonely woman observes a mysterious, vacant residence across the street, leading her and her loyal servant on a journey to uncover the hidden tragedies buried within its walls.
A Servant of the Public
Anthony Hope
A famous actress’s life becomes a public stage where the boundaries between her genuine feelings and her performative charisma blur, leaving those around her to navigate the wreckage of her charm.
Angels and Ministers, and Other Victorian Plays
Laurence Housman
These intimate, imagined dialogues peel back the curtain on the private lives of world leaders, capturing the quiet, human vulnerability hidden behind the imposing masks of Victorian and post-war history.
Her Benny: A Story of Street Life
Silas K. (Silas Kitto) Hocking
A resilient street urchin battles poverty and profound loss in a Victorian city, ultimately finding salvation through faith, industry, and the kindness of strangers.
Jack Sheppard: A Romance, Vol. 1 (of 3)
William Harrison Ainsworth
This is a gritty, atmospheric exploration of the criminal underworld in eighteenth-century London, where the threads of high-born intrigue and common villainy entangle in the shadows of the Old Mint.
Love's Golden Thread
E. C. (Edith C.) Kenyon
The golden thread of love weaves through life’s darkest trials, proving that even when worldly success crumbles, personal integrity and kindness remain the true measures of a life.
Our Old Home, Vol. 2: Annotated with Passages from the Author's Notebook
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A thoughtful exploration of England through the eyes of an American observer, this collection records the nuanced friction between a traveler’s romantic expectations and the reality of a weathered, stratified nation.
Phoebe, Junior
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
A young woman of formidable intellect navigates the rigid social hierarchies of a provincial English town, discovering that her sharp mind is both a powerful instrument for survival and a barrier to the domestic life others expect of her.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 107, November 3, 1894
Various
This vibrant archival artifact captures the wit and political satire of Victorian London, offering a witty, kaleidoscopic window into the social anxieties and cultural preoccupations of 1894.
Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 2
Samuel Warren
The fall of a noble house and the rise of an unworthy interloper frame this sprawling, intricate drama of social ambition, legal maneuvering, and moral decay. It serves as a dense, Victorian exploration of how character is tested by sudden, catastrophic fortune.
The Happy Warrior
A. S. M. (Arthur Stuart-Menteth) Hutchinson
The life of a young man is defined by his struggle to reconcile his hidden noble heritage with a burning, selfless desire for those he loves.
The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2
Walter Scott
A devoted sister journeys across a kingdom to save her kin from the gallows, navigating a landscape of shifting loyalties, hidden identities, and the heavy, lingering weight of past transgressions.
The Holly-Tree
Charles Dickens
A bashful traveler finds himself snowbound at a remote inn, where the quiet solitude forces him to confront the ghosts of his past and the unexpected warmth of human connection.
Valperga Volume 1 (of 3)
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
A young exile’s ascent to power clashes with the ideals of the woman he loves amidst the brutal factional wars of fourteenth-century Italy.
Vixen, Volume I
M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon
A spirited young woman struggles to find her footing in a changing world after the sudden death of her father and the unexpected shifting of her closest childhood ties.
A Dark Night's Work
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
A lawyer’s daughter hides a terrible secret that shadows her life for decades, testing the limits of loyalty, memory, and the possibility of redemption. This somber, psychological study of guilt follows the quiet aftermath of an impulsive crime.
Abbeychurch
Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge
The life of a clergyman’s daughter in the early nineteenth century is defined less by grand adventure than by the quiet, often agonizing struggle to govern one’s own impulses. This tale of young women navigating social expectations, family duty, and the pitfalls of their own vanity offers a sharp, sympathetic look…
British Sea Birds
Charles Dixon
This detailed survey of British marine avian life provides a foundational look at the species that populate the islands' cliffs, marshes, and tideways. It serves as a comprehensive field companion for understanding the habits, plumages, and migratory patterns of these resilient creatures.
Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles: Phillis - Licia
Thomas Lodge
These twin collections of Elizabethan verse capture the frantic, artful intensity of a generation obsessed with the architecture of desire. They map the transition of a foreign poetic form into the uniquely restless, English heart.
Humphrey Bold: A Story of the Times of Benbow
Herbert Strang
Humphrey Bold, a timid youth from Shrewsbury, finds his life irrevocably altered when he is caught in the gears of a villainous conspiracy and forced to seek his fortune upon the high seas.
Nestleton Magna: A Story of Yorkshire Methodism
J. Jackson (James Jackson) Wray
A sincere, spirited portrait of rural English life, this narrative follows the quiet, transformative power of faith as it bridges the social chasm between a wealthy squire’s son and a blacksmith’s daughter.
The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, Vol. 3 (of 8): The Countess Cathleen. The Land of Heart's Desire. The Unicorn from the Stars
W. B. (William Butler) Yeats
The mortal soul is a currency that can be spent, stolen, or surrendered in these haunting explorations of hunger, faith, and the dangerous pull of the otherworldly.
The Constable De Bourbon
William Harrison Ainsworth
A betrayed prince turns his back on his native France, leading a desperate army toward a final, violent reckoning that reshapes the map of sixteenth-century Europe.
The Crime Doctor
E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
A man of science treats the criminal mind as a curable illness rather than a target for the gallows. This unconventional physician stakes his reputation—and his life—on the belief that even the most desperate souls can be redeemed through compassion and psychological insight.
The Head Girl at the Gables
Angela Brazil
A retiring student unexpectedly becomes head of school, navigating the complex social hierarchies and hidden dramas of a close-knit coastal boarding school during the First World War.
The Hour Glass
W. B. (William Butler) Yeats
The soul is a fragile, light-filled thing that, once denied, becomes a heavy burden to reclaim. A scholar finds that the life of the mind is a poor shield against the finality of an hourglass.
The Master of the Ceremonies
George Manville Fenn
Beneath the glittering social facade of an eighteenth-century seaside town, a desperate father struggles to maintain a life of impossible, hollow elegance while a shadow of murder looms over his home.
The Mission Of Mr. Eustace Greyne: 1905
Robert Hichens
A famous, stiflingly respectable novelist sends her mild-mannered husband to Algiers to scavenge for "African frailty," only to discover that her own domestic order is far more fragile than her fiction.
The Wyvern mystery
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
A tangle of inheritance, secrets, and a haunting, spectral presence, this Victorian gothic mystery explores the high cost of family pride. Beneath the weight of ancestral stone and buried deeds, a young couple discovers that the past is never truly finished, but merely waiting for the right moment to emerge.
Thistle and Rose: A Story for Girls
Amy Walton
A girl’s journey to a quiet country town becomes a profound lesson in the conflict between social expectations and the quiet virtues of the heart.
Veranilda
George Gissing
In the twilight of the Roman Empire, a young nobleman caught between the failing classical world and the rising Gothic tide risks everything to reclaim the woman he loves. This deeply researched historical novel captures the melancholy of a civilization in transition, where ancient grandeur crumbles under the…
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 07
Unknown
This collection of narratives captures the shifting landscape of the Scottish Borders, weaving together the lives of outcasts, lovers, and the disinherited in a tapestry of regional history and folklore.
Wit Without Money
John Fletcher
HOOK A charismatic spendthrift bankrupts himself on principle, only to discover that the truest test of his wit is not how he squanders his inheritance, but how he wins a widow.
Young Blood
E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
The bloom of youth meets the harsh realities of Victorian commerce in this brisk, poignant tale of a son fighting to redeem his disgraced father’s name. It is a story of faith in the face of overwhelming evidence.
A Change of Air
Anthony Hope
A famous poet seeks a quiet life in the countryside, only to find his arrival disrupts the fragile social order and stirs violent passions among his new neighbors.
A Great Man: A Frolic
Arnold Bennett
The life of an ordinary clerk is upended when a series of bizarre coincidences and his own baffling, effortless success transform him into a literary sensation. This dryly humorous satire explores the hollow nature of celebrity and the absurdity of public acclaim.
Astrophel and Other Poems: Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles
Algernon Charles Swinburne
The natural world and the weight of history collide in these verses, where the rhythmic pulse of the sea provides a constant, surging backdrop to the remembrance of departed poets and the enduring spirit of England.
Dreams
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
Dreams is a collection of playful, philosophical essays that explore the boundary between reality and the imagination. By weaving together absurdist accounts of his own subconscious mind and sharp critiques of modern creative life, the narrator invites readers to reconsider the nature of originality, the…
My Young Alcides: A Faded Photograph
Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge
This narrative follows a young man of immense, untamed physical and moral strength as he navigates the rigid social expectations of nineteenth-century England, attempting to reconcile his wild, colonial upbringing with the disciplined life of an English gentleman.
Prisoners: Fast Bound In Misery And Iron
Mary Cholmondeley
This novel explores the devastating ripple effects of a single, impulsive act of chivalry, centering on the long-term imprisonment of a young man for a murder he did not commit. It is a psychological study of how self-centeredness and a lack of moral courage can trap not only the innocent, but the guilty and the…
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, May 6, 1893
Various
The pages of this Victorian periodical capture the fleeting pulse of London life, where political maneuvering, theatrical critiques, and street-corner humor collide in a single, crowded week. It is a snapshot of an empire at play and at odds, documented with biting wit and an observant eye.
Second String
Anthony Hope
A man who chooses the shadows of quiet devotion over the blinding glare of public ambition finds his loyalty tested when the object of his admiration falls into a moral catastrophe.
The Following of the Star: A Romance
Florence L. (Florence Louisa) Barclay
A lonely, idealistic clergyman enters into a marriage of convenience with a spirited, wealthy heiress, only to discover that their self-sacrificing pact conceals a profound, unacknowledged love that defies distance, duty, and death.
The Foreign Tour of Messrs. Brown, Jones and Robinson: Being the History of What They Saw, and Did, in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland & Italy
Richard Doyle
Three bumbling Englishmen set out for a continental tour, only to find that foreign customs, language barriers, and their own peculiar personalities make for a journey of constant, absurd catastrophe.
The Hallam Succession
Amelia E. Barr
A quiet, devout woman struggles to preserve her family’s legacy while navigating the demands of love and the strict moral codes of a changing nineteenth-century world. This story chronicles the weight of duty and the solace of faith.