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British Literature — page 61

6,377 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 61 of 133.

Cover of A Hidden Life and Other Poems

A Hidden Life and Other Poems

George MacDonald

Finding the divine in the smallest of earthly things, this collection of verse explores the quiet sanctity of a life lived in faith. It is a contemplative work that transforms common moments—the growth of a flower, the memory of a father, or the struggle of a lonely soul—into deep meditations on the nature of God…

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Fraternity

Fraternity

John Galsworthy

The widening gulf between the comfortable, well-meaning elite and the invisible poor of London creates a precarious peace that threatens to shatter at the slightest human touch.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Inchbracken: The Story of a Fama Clamosa

Inchbracken: The Story of a Fama Clamosa

Robert Cleland

The storm that lashes the Scottish glen of Kilrundle carries with it a burden of scandal, forcing a young minister to choose between his moral duty and the crushing weight of public opinion.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of John Inglesant: A Romance (Volume 1 of 2)

John Inglesant: A Romance (Volume 1 of 2)

J. H. (Joseph Henry) Shorthouse

A haunted, introspective journey through the wreckage of the English Civil War, this narrative follows a young man caught between his Jesuit training and the shifting loyalties of a collapsing monarchy.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Judith Shakespeare: Her love affairs and other adventures

Judith Shakespeare: Her love affairs and other adventures

William Black

A spirited young woman navigates the social currents and personal dramas of Stratford-upon-Avon, living in the long, formidable shadow of her world-famous father.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Michael's Crag

Michael's Crag

Grant Allen

HOOK A haunted man, a secret debt, and the rugged cliffs of Cornwall collide in this atmospheric tale of guilt, engineering ambition, and the fragile line between sanity and divine delusion.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Pamela Censured

Pamela Censured

Anonymous

A biting critique of moral hypocrisy, this polemic exposes the dangerous gap between a story's virtuous pretense and the erotic thrills it secretly provides its audience. It serves as a rigorous investigation into how literature shapes the desires of the vulnerable.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Peccavi

Peccavi

E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung

A disgraced clergyman attempts to rebuild his ruined reputation—and his burned-down church—with his own hands, navigating the cold hostility of an unforgiving English village.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Golden Grasshopper: A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham

The Golden Grasshopper: A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham

William Henry Giles Kingston

A young Dutch refugee discovers the cost of faith and the weight of history while serving a legendary English merchant during the turbulent rise of the Protestant cause.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Tracked by a Tattoo: A Mystery

Tracked by a Tattoo: A Mystery

Fergus Hume

A labyrinthine murder mystery set in late Victorian London, where a detective follows a trail of hidden identities and poisoned needles to uncover a dark family secret.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Mere Accident

A Mere Accident

George Moore

The quiet hills of Sussex become a stage for a young man’s collision between his aesthetic devotion to the past and the intrusive, violent demands of the present.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Woman Intervenes

A Woman Intervenes

Robert Barr

A headstrong journalist and a pragmatic mineralogist collide on a transatlantic voyage, setting off a high-stakes competition for control of a Canadian mine.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Arminell: A Social Romance, Vol. 1

Arminell: A Social Romance, Vol. 1

S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

The rigid hierarchies of the Victorian countryside begin to buckle when a young woman of privilege discovers a secret that threatens to dissolve the distinction between the gentry and the rural poor.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Beside Still Waters

Beside Still Waters

Arthur Christopher Benson

Seeking a life of quiet reflection, one man turns away from the demands of the world to discover his own path. This meditation on personal growth and the pursuit of happiness remains a gentle guide for the introspective.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Dynevor Terrace

Dynevor Terrace

Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

A young man of idealistic temperament and a dutiful, high-minded woman navigate the crushing weight of family expectations, pride, and poverty. Their journey from stifling social obligations to personal integrity defines this mid-nineteenth-century domestic drama.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of English Songs and Ballads

English Songs and Ballads

Unknown

These verses capture the heartbeat of a nation’s history, collecting the poems and songs that define the English spirit through love, loss, war, and the quiet rhythms of the countryside. It is a mosaic of voices ranging from anonymous medieval lyrics to the polished stanzas of nineteenth-century masters.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of King Henry VI, Part 3

King Henry VI, Part 3

William Shakespeare

The crown is a heavy burden, and in this relentless cycle of vengeance, the path to power is paved with the blood of kin. Only the most ruthless survive to claim a throne that offers little peace.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Man and Maid

Man and Maid

Elinor Glyn

A cynical, war-maimed aristocrat seeks a controlled, loveless marriage, only to find his carefully constructed defenses shattered by his own secretary’s hidden passion.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Salome

Salome

Emma Marshall

The story of a young girl navigating the sudden collapse of her family’s fortunes, this narrative explores the quiet weight of domestic responsibility and the enduring influence of a steadfast heart.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Dust of Conflict

The Dust of Conflict

Harold Bindloss

A modest young Englishman, falsely accused of a fatal crime, seeks a fresh start in the crucible of nineteenth-century Cuba.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Grandchildren of the Ghetto

The Grandchildren of the Ghetto

Israel Zangwill

The children of immigrants navigate the friction between ancestral tradition and the pull of the modern world, searching for a place to belong in the shifting landscape of London’s Jewish quarters.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The King's Achievement

The King's Achievement

Robert Hugh Benson

Two brothers navigate the violent religious upheavals of Henry VIII’s reign, with one finding sanctity in the monastery and the other becoming an instrument of the King’s ruthless dissolution of the Church.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Pennyles Pilgrimage: Or The Money-lesse Perambulation of John Taylor

The Pennyles Pilgrimage: Or The Money-lesse Perambulation of John Taylor

John Taylor

A man sets out on foot from London to Edinburgh with no money, refusing to beg or borrow, relying entirely on the hospitality and serendipity of the road. His journey becomes a candid, rugged record of early seventeenth-century life.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Untilled Field

The Untilled Field

George Moore

A haunting portrait of a society in flux, this collection of stories captures the quiet desperation and inevitable departure of those caught in the fading light of rural Ireland.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Daisy's Aunt

Daisy's Aunt

E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

A young woman's heart becomes the battleground of a devoted aunt’s secret strategy to shield her from a scandal-ridden match.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Father Payne

Father Payne

Arthur Christopher Benson

This reflective memoir captures the quiet intensity of a mentor who invited young men to live and learn at his estate. It serves as a gentle exploration of how to live with purpose, sincerity, and intellectual freedom.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of From Wealth to Poverty

From Wealth to Poverty

Austin Potter

The drink curse spares no one, turning paradise into a hell of passions and hate. This narrative serves as a stark testament to the ruin wrought by the liquor traffic upon innocent families and communities.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Blower of Bubbles

The Blower of Bubbles

Beverley Baxter

Amid the shadows of the First World War, these five vignettes observe how ordinary lives are transformed by compassion, sacrifice, and the quiet weight of conflict.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The House of Dreams-Come-True

The House of Dreams-Come-True

Margaret Pedler

A young woman travels to England with a hopeful heart, only to find her heart’s desire entangled in a web of family secrets, fierce rivalries, and sudden tragedy.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Mayor of Warwick

The Mayor of Warwick

Herbert M. (Herbert Müller) Hopkins

An ambitious small-town mayor, a bishop’s proud daughter, and a newly arrived astronomer collide across the rigid class lines of a New England college town.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Uninhabited House

The Uninhabited House

Riddell, J. H., Mrs.

A young law clerk accepts a challenge to occupy a house so profoundly haunted that no tenant can remain, only to discover that the malevolent force within is far more human than he imagined.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of True, and Other Stories

True, and Other Stories

George Parsons Lathrop

A single choice made across three centuries ripples forward, entangling an ambitious young scholar, a haunted fisherman, and an heiress in the mysterious inheritance of their shared past.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Wild Heather

Wild Heather

L. T. Meade

A motherless girl brought up by an austere aunt discovers her father's glittering high-society lifestyle conceals a shameful secret, leaving her to choose between wealth gained through deception and an honest, quiet life.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Prince of Sinners

A Prince of Sinners

E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

To return to London after years in the Canadian wild as a altered man is one thing; to find oneself face-to-face with a forgotten past, a son who preaches moral reform, and a society hungry for political salvation is quite another.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Colin Clink, Volume 3 (of 3)

Colin Clink, Volume 3 (of 3)

Charles Hooton

The third volume of Charles Hooton’s Victorian trilogy concludes the trial of Colin Clink, resolving long-buried familial secrets, dark criminal plots, and an agonizingly tested romance across rural England and London.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Love in a Muddle

Love in a Muddle

Christine Jope-Slade

A young woman’s impulsive lie to escape a domineering parent lands her in a chaotic, sham engagement with a captivating army officer.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Mosada: A dramatic poem

Mosada: A dramatic poem

W. B. (William Butler) Yeats

Two lovers separated by religious war meet again only when one is condemned to the stake and the other wears the robe of her grand inquisitor.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Parodies of Ballad Criticism (1711-1787): A Comment Upon the History of Tom Thumb, 1711, by William

Parodies of Ballad Criticism (1711-1787): A Comment Upon the History of Tom Thumb, 1711, by William

William Wagstaffe

A pedantic critic can turn any nursery rhyme into an epic, provided he brings enough Latin quotations and unearned gravity to the task.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Run to Earth: A Novel

Run to Earth: A Novel

M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

An inheritance hangs in the balance, a bride vanishes on her wedding night, and a dark shadow falls over every heir who stands between a cold-hearted schemer and a vast English fortune.

British Literature16 min read
Cover of Scarlet and Hyssop: A Novel

Scarlet and Hyssop: A Novel

E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

A sharp look at a high-society world where morality is discarded for convenience, and quiet self-possession proves more powerful than any scandal.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Changeling

The Changeling

Walter Besant

A desperate secret adoption creates a web of deceit that entangles high society, an American fortune, and a cold young aristocrat's identity.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of The House of Life

The House of Life

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

A sonnet is framed here as a coin or a carved monument to a single hour, capturing the soul’s deepest encounters with love, memory, and mortal decay.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Mad Lover, a Tragi-Comedy: The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (3 of 10)

The Mad Lover, a Tragi-Comedy: The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (3 of 10)

John Fletcher

A battle-hardened general falls instantly in love with a princess, only to lose his wits and demand his own heart be cut out to prove his devotion.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Man Who Lost Himself

The Man Who Lost Himself

H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole

A penniless American promoter wakes up in a luxurious London mansion, mistaken for a disgraced English earl who looks exactly like him.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Fast as the Wind: A Novel

Fast as the Wind: A Novel

Nat Gould

An escaped convict chokes out a bloodhound on Dartmoor, flees to the coast under an assumed identity, and confronts the glamorous woman whose hidden crime cost him his freedom.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of "I'll Leave It To You": A Light Comedy In Three Acts

"I'll Leave It To You": A Light Comedy In Three Acts

Noël Coward

An extended family learns that sudden financial independence is not a gift handed down from above, but a discipline forged under pressure.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Lover or Friend

Lover or Friend

Rosa Nouchette Carey

Bound by propriety and secret shame, a spirited young woman marries not out of grand passion, but in response to honor, gradually discovering that true love was standing quietly beside her all along.

British Literature9 min read
Cover of Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

William Shakespeare

Two fiercely independent wits wage a war of words while a malicious conspiracy threatens to destroy a young couple's wedding in sunny Messina.

British Literature6 min read