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British Literature — page 69

4,542 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 69 of 95.

Cover of Stand Fast, Craig-Royston! (Volume II)

Stand Fast, Craig-Royston! (Volume II)

William Black

A young man's desperate love for an enigmatic woman collides with social prejudice, hidden shame, and the dubious reputation of her grandfather.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Reflections of Ambrosine: A Novel

The Reflections of Ambrosine: A Novel

Elinor Glyn

A high-born young woman trades her freedom for her family’s survival, only to discover that the aristocratic world she sacrificed herself to enter is governed by its own ruthless code.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Great Emergency and Other Tales

A Great Emergency and Other Tales

Juliana Horatia Ewing

A collection of four Victorian tales explores the turbulent inner lives of children as they navigate jealousy, pride, and the deep desire to prove their courage.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Nine Days' Wonder

A Nine Days' Wonder

B. M. (Bithia Mary) Croker

A hidden identity and a forgotten heritage reshape a young life when an Irish country girl is revealed to be the lost daughter of a British peer.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Trip to Scarborough

A Trip to Scarborough

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

A sharp-witted younger brother swoops into Scarborough under a stolen title to snatch an heiress and outsmart his pompos buffoon of a sibling.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Castara: The Third Edition of 1640

Castara: The Third Edition of 1640

William Habington

A devotion to chaste, earthly affection transforms over time into a total surrender to divine transcendence.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Cecilia de Noël

Cecilia de Noël

Lanoe Falconer

A haunted English manor house becomes a crucible where dogmatic rationalists, devout traditionalists, and spiritual seekers each face a horrifying apparition that exposes the limits of their beliefs.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Dickory Cronke: The Dumb Philosopher, or, Great Britain's Wonder

Dickory Cronke: The Dumb Philosopher, or, Great Britain's Wonder

Daniel Defoe

A quiet Cornwall boy, born without speech, lives six decades in silent observation before regaining his voice for one final night of astonishing wisdom.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Freaks on the Fells: Three Months' Rustication

Freaks on the Fells: Three Months' Rustication

R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

A summer journey to the Scottish Highlands plunges an energetic London family into wild scrambles, rustic encounters, and endless minor catastrophes.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Holiday House: A Series of Tales

Holiday House: A Series of Tales

Catherine Sinclair

Left to their own devices, two rambunctious Scottish children turn their home into a chaotic test ground for every absurd idea that enters their heads.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Jemmy Stubbins, or the Nailer Boy: Illustrations of the Law of Kindness

Jemmy Stubbins, or the Nailer Boy: Illustrations of the Law of Kindness

Unknown

An American traveller steps inside an English smithy to escape the rain and discovers a child whose youth is being relentlessly consumed by the anvil.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of John Herring: A West of England Romance. Volume 3 (of 3)

John Herring: A West of England Romance. Volume 3 (of 3)

S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

In a bleak coastal landscape defined by bone-chilling granite and relentless Atlantic gales, a young idealist discovers that doing the honorable thing offers no protection against heartbreak, deceit, or the devastating consequences of misplaced devotion.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, July 18, 1891

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, July 18, 1891

Various

A satirical mirror held up to Victorian London, this volume captures the anxieties, absurdities, and daily absurdities of an empire at its zenith.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Sunrise

Sunrise

William Black

Behind polished Venetian doors and quietly shuttered London drawing rooms, a vast subterranean engine of European revolution turns, threatening to swallow two lovers whole.

British Literature8 min read
Cover of Sweet Mace: A Sussex Legend of the Iron Times

Sweet Mace: A Sussex Legend of the Iron Times

George Manville Fenn

In the dense, damp valleys of seventeenth-century Sussex, an unyielding ironmaster, a ruthless courtier, and a local witch collide over a young woman’s fate.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The complete works of John Gower, volume 4

The complete works of John Gower, volume 4

John Gower

A quiet, relentless examination of a society unraveling from within, this volume brings a medieval poet’s moral outrage into sharp focus.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Emancipated

The Emancipated

George Gissing

A rigid young widow with a fortress of religious pride clashes with a brilliant, volatile freethinker under the dazzling, permissive sun of Southern Italy.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The great amulet

The great amulet

Maud Diver

Love can forge a sanctuary out of hardship, yet even the deepest devotion cannot undo choices made in haste or pride.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Hole in the Wall

The Hole in the Wall

Arthur Morrison

A young boy steps into the shadowed taverns of the London Docks, where his grandfather keeps a dark secret among thieves, murderers, and lost fortunes.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Revenge: A Tragedy

The Revenge: A Tragedy

Edward Young

A captive prince plots the destruction of the Spanish general who enslaved him, weaponizing jealousy to turn a hero against his bride and his truest friend.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 02

Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 02

Unknown

A spirited tapestry of Scottish life, where desperate rievers, pious Covenanters, and star-crossed lovers navigate a world governed by moonlight raids, rough justice, and capricious fate.

British Literature8 min read
Cover of Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 23

Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 23

Unknown

A man searches a riverbed for three weeks for his drowned wife, only to find she has fled with his money; a grieving woman dies in an armchair, her infant nursing at a bloody breast, while her husband returns from a lost battle.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Winding Paths

Winding Paths

Gertrude Page

A soul in turmoil searches for a straight path through the world, only to learn that life moves forward across winding ways.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of "1914"

"1914"

John Oxenham

An comfortable English suburb watches its young men scatter into the storm of August 1914, discovering that the tidy, optimistic world they built cannot protect them from the tragedy unfolding across Europe.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845

Various

A deep dive into classical art, high-stakes fiction, natural science, and personal memory, offering a rich window into nineteenth-century literary thought.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Double Harness

Double Harness

Anthony Hope

Two people step into marriage expecting absolute romantic fulfillment, only to discover that shared life requires patience, sacrifice, and the quiet surrender of ideal illusions.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Dr. Wortle's School

Dr. Wortle's School

Anthony Trollope

A combative English headmaster risks his school, his standing, and his peace of mind to protect an American assistant whose secret marriage defies the strict conventions of Victorian society.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Greatheart

Greatheart

Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell

A young woman caught between two very different brothers must choose between intoxicating passion and steady, sacrificial devotion.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Legends and Lyrics. Part 1

Legends and Lyrics. Part 1

Adelaide Anne Procter

Unflinching duty and quiet grief shape the inner landscapes of these mid-Victorian verses. The collection charts how human devotion, refined through the furnace of sorrow, finds its final weight and permanence in heaven.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Love

Love

Elizabeth Von Arnim

Fiftyish widow Catherine Cumfrit falls madly in love with a man twenty years her junior, braving social outrage and her own mounting panic over aging to claim a startling late joy.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Peter's Mother

Peter's Mother

De La Pasture, Henry, Mrs.

A gentle, secluded domestic life is disrupted when a long-subdued woman learns to choose her own path despite the expectations of her son.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, May 6, 1914

Punch, or the London Charivari, May 6, 1914

Various

A snapshot of Edwardian satire, this magazine issue skewers everything from global politics to upper-class pretension with sharp, polite irreverence.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, August 4th, 1920

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, August 4th, 1920

Various

A satirical portrait of Post-World War I Britain reveals a nation grappling with soaring transit costs, absurd domestic crises, and the hilarious burden of daily life.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of The education of Uncle Paul

The education of Uncle Paul

Algernon Blackwood

A man finds his long-dormant inner life reawakened by his niece, a child whose ethereal connection to nature guides him toward a deeper, mystical reality. This gentle, poignant narrative explores the boundary between the adult world of rigid convention and the boundless, imaginative potential of childhood.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The False One: A Tragedy

The False One: A Tragedy

John Fletcher

In ancient Egypt, political maneuvering and raw desire collide as Roman conquerors and Alexandrian courtiers gamble empires for personal survival and absolute power.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Farringdons

The Farringdons

Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler

A vivid portrait of a woman navigating the tension between her own fierce independence and the quiet, enduring devotion of a man she has long taken for granted.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Last Abbot of Glastonbury: A Tale of the Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Last Abbot of Glastonbury: A Tale of the Dissolution of the Monasteries

A. D. (Augustine David) Crake

Sacrificed to the ruthless machinery of Henry VIII’s Reformation, an ancient Somerset abbey falls, leaving its loyal charges to guard a dangerous secret amid betrayal, torture, and the shadow of the gallows.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The organisation of thought, educational and scientific

The organisation of thought, educational and scientific

Alfred North Whitehead

Knowledge is not a collection of isolated facts, but a single, living unity rooted in human experience.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Prince and the Page: A Story of the Last Crusade

The Prince and the Page: A Story of the Last Crusade

Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

A disgraced young noble conceals his identity to serve the prince who destroyed his family, risking his life to protect the crown until a ultimate sacrifice reshapes his legacy.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The private life, The wheel of time, Lord Beaupré, The visits, Collaboration, Owen Wingrave

The private life, The wheel of time, Lord Beaupré, The visits, Collaboration, Owen Wingrave

Henry James

A refined society turns its back on what makes humans whole, demanding public performance at the cost of the inner self.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Prophet's Mantle

The Prophet's Mantle

E. (Edith) Nesbit

A young Russian noble gives up his vast inheritance and security to march into the fire of the revolution, inspiring an idealist Englishwoman to join him despite the grave dangers awaiting them.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The skipper's wooing, and The brown man's servant

The skipper's wooing, and The brown man's servant

W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs

A quiet Thames skipper, a lost sea captain, and an ill-gotten diamond prove that everyday human folly and dark misfortune travel on the very same tide.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Three Brides

The Three Brides

Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

When three brothers bring three very different brides home to the ancestral manor of Compton Poynsett, their mother's quiet tyranny and the weight of county expectations begin to fracture their marriages before they have even settled in.

British Literature8 min read
Cover of Uncanny Tales

Uncanny Tales

Mrs. Molesworth

A collection of eerie, atmospheric tales explores the quiet intrusions of the supernatural into respectable Victorian lives. Ghostly shadows, phantom trains, and inexplicably ticking clocks serve as catalysts for moral awakenings and hidden familial truths.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Victorian Short Stories of Troubled Marriages

Victorian Short Stories of Troubled Marriages

Unknown

Behind closed doors, the Victorian domestic ideal frequently crumbled under the weight of malice, quiet despair, mismatch, and social hypocrisy.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of A Life Sentence: A Novel

A Life Sentence: A Novel

Adeline Sergeant

The wrongly accused man went to prison while the real killer walked free, but guilt weaves a trap that eventually catches every player in the tragedy.

British Literature8 min read
Cover of A Will and No Will

A Will and No Will

Charles Macklin

A sharp pair of mid-eighteenth-century theatrical satires exposes the avarice of greedy heirs and the backbiting malice of London's self-appointed theater critics.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Jack Sheppard: A Romance, Vol. 3 (of 3)

Jack Sheppard: A Romance, Vol. 3 (of 3)

William Harrison Ainsworth

With rapid pace and sensational flair, the story follows a doomed young thief whose miraculous prison escapes, deep maternal devotion, and relentless feud with the monstrous thief-taker Jonathan Wild make him an unforgettable, tragic underdog.

British Literature6 min read
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