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British Literature — page 66
4,542 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 66 of 95.
The Golden Lion of Granpere
Anthony Trollope
In the high, quiet valleys of the Vosges, a young woman’s steady heart becomes the battleground for a stubborn innkeeper’s misplaced ambition. This pastoral drama captures the friction between family duty and the quiet, immovable truth of love.
The Hawthorns: A Story about Children
Amy Walton
The Hawthorns is a gentle, immersive chronicle of five siblings growing up in a country vicarage, where the small, imaginative dramas of childhood are treated with deep respect and warmth. It captures the quiet, vivid intensity of a world bounded by a pear tree, a garden, and the constant, burgeoning curiosity of…
The Manchester Rebels of the Fatal '45
William Harrison Ainsworth
Amid the fervor and ultimate ruin of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, a young man finds his loyalties torn between the promise of a royal restoration and the woman he loves.
The Nest of the Sparrowhawk: A Romance of the XVIIth Century
Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
A young woman’s romantic illusions collide with the cold, predatory schemes of her guardian in the uneasy political climate of 17th-century England.
The Prince and the Pauper, Part 5
Mark Twain
Two boys from opposite ends of society trade places, discovering that their respective worlds—the glittering throne and the desperate gutter—are both prisons of circumstance. This enduring tale of mistaken identity examines the arbitrary nature of power and the brutal realities of sixteenth-century English law.
The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"
George Borrow
This sequel to an earlier autobiographical narrative captures the restless, idiosyncratic spirit of a man who prefers the company of wanderers and linguists to the stuffy drawing rooms of Victorian society. It is a work of defiant individuality, blending sharp social commentary with the rugged, unpredictable…
The Works of George Meredith: A Linked Index to the Project Gutenberg Editions
George Meredith
A comprehensive treasury of Victorian ambition and intellectual wit, these collected works map the human comedy through nuanced character studies, sharp social satire, and the enduring tension between rigid tradition and the restless spirit.
Too Old for Dolls: A Novel
Anthony M. (Anthony Mario) Ludovici
This novel follows the emotional and social education of two sisters navigating the stifling expectations of early 20th-century English society. It serves as a sharp, unsentimental look at the hidden pressures governing the lives of young women.
What Not: A Prophetic Comedy
Rose Macaulay
In a future where a government agency regulates human reproduction based on intelligence, two high-ranking officials discover that their own prohibited love affair is more dangerous than the bureaucratic systems they help maintain.
Adventures of Martin Hewitt, Third Series
Arthur Morrison
A private investigator navigates a series of intricate London puzzles, where ordinary objects—from broken windowpanes to peculiar snuff-boxes—uncover hidden motives and desperate crimes.
An Essay on Criticism
Mr. (John) Oldmixon
The art of judging literature is often reduced to a search for petty flaws by those who prefer tearing down others to appreciating beauty. This defense of literary criticism champions the pursuit of excellence over mean-spirited fault-finding.
Julius LeVallon: An Episode
Algernon Blackwood
This narrative explores the haunting, metaphysical tether between three souls across eons, tracing their desperate attempt to rectify an ancient, cosmic transgression through the ritual of reincarnation. It is a work of atmospheric suspense and philosophical inquiry, lingering in the liminal spaces where individual…
Kate's ordeal
Emma Leslie
A young woman seeking independence in the big city discovers that the pursuit of social status and worldly vanity can lead to devastating moral consequences.
Mr. Punch in Society: Being the Humours of Social Life
Unknown
This collection serves as a witty, biting mirror to the social anxieties and absurd rituals of the British upper class at the turn of the century.
Old Lady Mary: A Story of the Seen and the Unseen
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
The tragedy of an unfinished life is not the dying itself, but the silence that follows. This haunting narrative explores the desperate, ghostly effort to reach back across the veil and correct a final, irreparable mistake.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, August 1, 1891
Various
This collection of late-Victorian satire captures the nervous, witty, and deeply political temperament of 1891 London. It offers a fractured mirror of an empire obsessed with its own prestige, its parliamentary theater, and the absurdities of its global influence.
Roger Kyffin's Ward
William Henry Giles Kingston
A young man of high character finds his life and reputation imperiled by a web of greed and political instability during the turbulent years of the late eighteenth century.
Short Cruises
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
These tales of working-class life in turn-of-the-century England capture the quiet desperation and sharp-witted mischief of men and women navigating the small, often ridiculous crises of their daily routines.
The Great Miss Driver
Anthony Hope
A young woman inherits a vast estate and must navigate the stifling social expectations of an English borough, armed only with her wits and a penchant for defiance.
The Mob: A Play in Four Acts
John Galsworthy
This play follows the tragic, inevitable collision between a man of conscience and the fervor of a nation at war. It is a stark, unsparing examination of what happens when personal integrity refuses to bend to the will of the crowd.
The Recreations of a Country Parson
Andrew Kennedy Hutchison Boyd
A country clergyman offers a collection of meditative essays on the common trials and quiet joys of daily life. He observes the world with a mixture of gentle humor, practical wisdom, and deep faith.
The Spanish Curate: A Comedy
John Fletcher
A sharp-witted comedy of secrets and schemes, this play captures the frantic, high-stakes collision between a neglected wife, a covetous lawyer, and an opportunistic curate.
A Doctor of the Old School
Ian Maclaren
A portrait of rural devotion, this story depicts a country doctor’s tireless commitment to his neighbors, capturing the profound bond between a healer and the people he serves.
Ballad Book
Unknown
These ancient songs capture the essence of a world long vanished, echoing with the voices of wandering minstrels and the stark, enduring truths of human experience. They serve as a vital bridge to the youth of our literature, speaking directly to the heart through tales of tragedy, romance, and the supernatural.
Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later, Both by the Original Discoverer of the Country and by His Son
Samuel Butler
The mystery of a forgotten land invites a return, revealing how swiftly a departure can turn into a myth. What happens when a man encounters the religion built upon his own accidental legend?
Far Above Rubies
George MacDonald
A young couple navigates the quiet, harrowing struggle of artistic integrity and domestic poverty, finding that true wealth lies in their devotion to one another and their faith.
Harry Joscelyn
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
The quiet rhythms of rural English life are irrevocably disrupted when a young woman travels to Italy, seeking to bridge the vast, silent distance between her family and a long-vanished brother.
Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
Ezra Pound
The modern artist stands as a fragile, displaced observer, struggling to preserve a sense of grace against an age that prizes only the loud, the profitable, and the ephemeral. This work captures the slow, inevitable erosion of the individual who refuses to conform to a society obsessed with mass production.
Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol 150, February 9, 1916
Various
This collection captures the peculiar, defiant rhythm of life in London during the darkest months of the First World War, blending sharp political satire with the absurdities of the home front.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, July 17, 1841
Various
This inaugural collection captures the irreverent spirit of a nascent journalistic institution, blending sharp political satire with the absurdities of Victorian life. It serves as a biting manifesto for wit over conventional authority.
Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite
Anthony Trollope
A proud father’s desperate attempt to shield his daughter from a manipulative suitor leads to a heartbreaking tragedy that shatters a long-standing family legacy.
Some do not...: A novel
Ford Madox Ford
The old order of Edwardian certainty is crumbling, and for a man of principle, survival requires navigating a landscape of shifting loyalties, social sabotage, and the inexorable approach of war. Amidst this upheaval, a lonely, brilliant official must choose between the stifling conventions of his class and the…
The Ayrshire Legatees
John Galt
The discovery of a surprise inheritance draws a quiet Scottish family into the bewildering heart of London, where provincial innocence meets metropolitan sophistication. This charming epistolary novel captures the intersection of personal ambition and traditional faith.
The Faithful Shepherdess: The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (Volume 2 of 10)
John Fletcher
Amidst the ancient groves of Thessaly, a grieving shepherdess and a host of tangled lovers navigate the perilous, shifting boundaries between human desire and divine virtue.
The Making of Mona
Mabel Quiller-Couch
A young girl learns that character is built in the quiet, unglamorous moments of daily duty, not in the daydreams of a storybook life.
The Queen's Cup
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
A soldier’s long-standing rivalry with a scoundrel reaches its violent conclusion on the high seas. This tale of obsession and rescue follows a veteran who must sail across the world to reclaim the woman he loves.
The Sylph, Volume I and II
Cavendish, Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire
A young woman is whisked from her quiet Welsh home into the corrupt, hedonistic vortex of London society by a husband whose true, predatory nature is masked by the polished manners of a man of fashion.
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 20
Unknown
These collected tales capture the distinct, rugged spirit of the Scottish Borderlands through stories of hardship, endurance, and quiet heroism. They serve as a vital repository of a regional culture defined by its deep sense of home.
A Doctor of the Old School
Ian Maclaren
This portrait of a dedicated country physician offers a poignant look at the quiet, often heroic service performed in the isolated reaches of the Scottish Highlands.
A House-Party, Don Gesualdo, and A Rainy June
Ouida
This collection offers three distinct windows into the late nineteenth-century world, capturing the idle aristocracy of English country estates, the tragic moral isolation of an Italian priest, and the swift, sour unraveling of a cross-cultural marriage.
A Life's Secret: A Novel
Wood, Henry, Mrs.
A young man must navigate a web of industrial unrest and hidden familial shame to protect his mentor’s business and secure his own future in a rigid Victorian society.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 391, May, 1848
Various
This collection of essays, narratives, and social commentary captures the intellectual pulse of mid-nineteenth-century Britain, offering a window into the anxieties of an era defined by political upheaval and social reform.
Night Must Fall
Emlyn Williams
HOOK A charismatic stranger charms his way into an isolated household, masking a predatory darkness with a smile. Beneath the domestic surface of a quiet English bungalow, a chilling psychological game unfolds.
Plashers Mead: A Novel
Compton MacKenzie
A young poet settles into a secluded English village, only to find that his romantic ambitions and artistic aspirations collide with the suffocating, tradition-bound expectations of the local gentry.
Shakespeare: A Lecture
Robert Green Ingersoll
The greatest mind in human history remains a mystery, a figure of humble origins who transformed the English language into an infinite mirror of our own souls.
The Crowded Street
Winifred Holtby
A young woman’s search for purpose in early 20th-century Yorkshire is a battle against the suffocating expectations of a society that values marriage above all else. This narrative explores the cost of that stifling conformity.
The Daffodil Fields
John Masefield
The daffodils bloom in a landscape of quiet English tragedy, where human desire proves as fleeting and uncontrollable as the seasons themselves. This narrative poem traces the devastating collision of three lives bound by ancient geography and modern restlessness.
The Fortunate Foundlings: Being the Genuine History of Colonel M——Rs, and His Sister, Madam Du P——Y, the Issue of the Hon. Ch——Es M——Rs, Son of the Late Duke of R—— L——D. Containing Many Wonderful Accidents That Befel Them in Their Travels, and Interspersed with the Characters and Adventures of Several Persons of Condition, In the Most Polite Courts of Europe. the Whole Calculated for the Entertainment and Improvement of the Youth of Both Sexes
Eliza Fowler Haywood
Separated in childhood and raised by a benefactor, two siblings navigate the perils of 18th-century Europe. Their journey is a testament to the idea that virtue, rather than birth, determines true nobility.