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British Literature — page 73

6,377 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 73 of 133.

Cover of The Crown of Life

The Crown of Life

George Gissing

A young man’s quiet, obsessive devotion to an unreachable ideal finds its resolution in a world of shifting social expectations and professional ambition. This is a story of the quiet, enduring power of sincerity in a society obsessed with appearances.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The daft days

The daft days

Neil Munro

A spirited, orphaned American girl arrives in her father’s quiet Scottish hometown, challenging the stuffy, orderly traditions of her Victorian relatives with her own irrepressible wit and warmth.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Giant's Robe

The Giant's Robe

F. Anstey

The weight of a stolen identity can be heavier than any crown, as a desperate man discovers when he claims a masterpiece as his own. He soon finds that wearing a giant’s robe only exposes the wearer’s true, dwarfish proportions.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Hollow Land

The Hollow Land

William Morris

The Hollow Land is a dream-wrought exploration of memory, violence, and redemption, where the borders between reality and the afterlife dissolve into a landscape of shifting, surreal beauty.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Marbeck Inn: A Novel

The Marbeck Inn: A Novel

Harold Brighouse

This is a story of a young man’s ruthless climb from the shadows of a Manchester working-class neighborhood to the heights of political influence, tracing the moral cost of his ambition.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A high wind in Jamaica

A high wind in Jamaica

Richard Hughes

A hurricane sweeps away a family’s West Indian plantation, driving five children onto a ship bound for England—where a chance encounter with pirates plunges them into a world where childhood innocence and casual brutality seamlessly overlap.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Clubfoot the Avenger: Being some further adventures of Desmond Oakwood, of the Secret Service

Clubfoot the Avenger: Being some further adventures of Desmond Oakwood, of the Secret Service

Valentine Williams

A former spymaster brings his ruthless, shadow-bound network to the quiet streets of London, forcing a retired British operative back into a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Daisy: the autobiography of a cat

Daisy: the autobiography of a cat

Miranda Eliot Swan

A poignant, heartfelt testament to the bond between humans and their animal companions, this narrative serves as both a fictional memoir and a plea for the compassionate treatment of all living creatures.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Life's Progress Through the Passions

Life's Progress Through the Passions

Eliza Fowler Haywood

A man’s lifelong journey through the turbulent currents of desire, ambition, and regret serves as a mirror for the human condition. His story charts the inevitable shifts from the impulsive passions of youth to the measured reflections of age.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Portrait of a Man with Red Hair: A Romantic Macabre

Portrait of a Man with Red Hair: A Romantic Macabre

Hugh Walpole

An American tourist's Cornish vacation turns into a struggle against a sadist's madness after he intervenes to rescue a young woman.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 22, 1914

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 22, 1914

Various

A weekly chronicle of British life, this collection captures the fleeting anxieties and absurdities of a nation standing on the precipice of the Great War.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Stand Fast, Craig-Royston! (Volume III)

Stand Fast, Craig-Royston! (Volume III)

William Black

A lover's resolute search across ocean lines ultimately yields to a bittersweet reckoning with family pride and fragile human illusions.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Benefit of the Doubt

The Benefit of the Doubt

Arthur Wing Pinero

When a Victorian divorce court clears a young wife with a compromised verdict, the social reprieve proves far more dangerous than open condemnation.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night

William Shakespeare

The storms of the sea and the storms of the heart collide in this vibrant study of longing, where a shipwrecked girl finds herself caught in a tangled web of love, masquerade, and mistaken identity.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Country Gentleman and His Family

A Country Gentleman and His Family

Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

A headstrong young squire defies his family for an older widow, while his sister’s quiet romance is shattered at the altar by a devastating secret.

British Literature9 min read
Cover of Colin Clink, Volume 1 (of 3)

Colin Clink, Volume 1 (of 3)

Charles Hooton

Born out of wedlock to a disgraced woman in rural Yorkshire, an spirited young boy faces a hostile world where those in power routinely abuse their authority.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Dynevor Terrace

Dynevor Terrace

Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

Duty, affection, and social expectation collide as two mismatched English cousins test the bounds of honor and self-denial.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Innocent

Innocent

Marie Corelli

A young girl raised on an isolated farm discovers the secret of her birth, step by step casting aside the false claims that shadowed her childhood only to face the harsh realities of the wider world.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Little Saint Elizabeth and Other Stories

Little Saint Elizabeth and Other Stories

Frances Hodgson Burnett

A lonely child's desperate attempt to live out her strict religious ideals brings her face to face with real-world suffering in a city she barely understands.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Maradick at Forty: A Transition

Maradick at Forty: A Transition

Hugh Walpole

A summer holiday in a medieval Cornish coastal town shakes a respectable London businessman out of his rigid midlife routines, entangling him in the turbulent lives, romances, and eerie atmosphere of those around him.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Spirit of Chambers's Journal

Spirit of Chambers's Journal

Robert Chambers

A vibrant picture of nineteenth-century Scottish life, capturing its social quirks, historic drama, and quiet everyday humor.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of The Pagan's Cup

The Pagan's Cup

Fergus Hume

A stolen relic, hidden family secrets, and a sinister past disrupt an isolated English village.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Passionate Pilgrim

The Passionate Pilgrim

William Shakespeare

Desire collides with deception across a landscape of pastoral beauty and sharp romantic disillusionment.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Prisoners of Mainz

The Prisoners of Mainz

Alec Waugh

A captive’s life turns on small things—a line of poetry, a tin of dried vegetables, and the slow, inevitable approach of peace.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The War-Workers

The War-Workers

E. M. Delafield

Self-sacrificing patriotism becomes an instrument of vanity when a Director’s real devotion is reserved for her own image.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Yellow House

The Yellow House

E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

A dark secret pulls a quiet English village into a tangled net of unspoken pasts, hidden identities, and sudden violence.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Windyridge

Windyridge

W. (William) Riley

Seeking respite from her cramped Chelsea lodgings, an urban woman yields to a sudden impulse, moves to a quiet moorland village, opens a portrait studio, and discovers a deeply interconnected community that alters her outlook on life.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Study In Shadows

A Study In Shadows

William John Locke

A young woman enters a pension of quiet casualties, where love and dishonor shift the ground beneath every life.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of A Whim, and Its Consequences: Collection of British Authors Vol. CXIV

A Whim, and Its Consequences: Collection of British Authors Vol. CXIV

G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

A proud young man, ruined by a altered legacy, hides his identity behind a head gardener’s coat, only to find himself entangled in an accusation of murder.

British Literature8 min read
Cover of Fanny Lambert: A Novel

Fanny Lambert: A Novel

H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole

A lighthearted Edwardian romantic comedy, the book balances money troubles with sunny charm as a capering cast of artist-bohemians, eccentric elders, and rigid country gentry cross paths across London.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Head of the Lower School

Head of the Lower School

Dorothea Moore

When a poor Scottish girl wins a scholarship to a grand boarding school on the treacherous Lincolnshire coast, her initial struggle to fit in uncovers a sinister plot of local espionage.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Hugo: A Fantasia on Modern Themes

Hugo: A Fantasia on Modern Themes

Arnold Bennett

Behind the colossal retail palace of London's west end, an obsessive shopkeeper constructs a private paradise that proves entirely vulnerable to passion, intrigue, and crime.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Mrs. Ames

Mrs. Ames

E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

Behind the trimmed hedges and polished front doors of an Edwardian English town, everyday life unfolds as a low-stakes battlefield of social standing and hidden longings.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of My Impressions of America

My Impressions of America

Margot Asquith

A swift, sharp-eyed chronicle of a whirlwind lecture tour that captures a nation in the throes of Prohibition and booming modernity.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4)

Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4)

Unknown

Anonymous traditional singers and broadside printers preserve centuries of British life, capturing a shared heritage of murder, romance, and spectral encounters.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of The Borough Treasurer

The Borough Treasurer

J. S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher

A web of blackmail, murder, and secrets unravels in a small town, testing loyalties and revealing dark pasts.

British Literature5 min read
Cover of The Hypocrite

The Hypocrite

Guy Thorne

A cynical student uses charm and deceit to exploit his peers, pursuing cheap thrills in London before meeting a bleak end.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Price of Coal: A Play

The Price of Coal: A Play

Harold Brighouse

In a small Lanarkshire cottage, a quiet household faces the sudden shock of a mine disaster. Behind closed doors, old premonitions and young love collide under the heavy weight of pit-side life.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Weird Sisters: A Romance. Volume 2 (of 3)

The Weird Sisters: A Romance. Volume 2 (of 3)

Richard Dowling

A country town shaken by secret financial ruin and sudden tragedy forms the setting of this nineteenth-century sensational romance, in which respectability mask deep moral collapse.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Cradock Nowell: A Tale of the New Forest. Vol. 1 (of 3)

Cradock Nowell: A Tale of the New Forest. Vol. 1 (of 3)

R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore

A sudden tragedy breaks the harmony of an ancient estate, driving a young heir from his home under the dark suspicion of fratricide while the surrounding forest stands witness to his grief.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Denounced: A Romance

Denounced: A Romance

John Bloundelle-Burton

A Jacobite refugee returns to London under a false name, only to find that political treachery and a tragic marriage threaten every life he holds dear.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II

English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II

Unknown

A bird warns a noble of his lady’s secret lover, setting off a wave of murder, ghostly return, and unforgiven blood.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Market Harborough, and Inside the Bar

Market Harborough, and Inside the Bar

G. J. (George John) Whyte-Melville

A country squire takes a costly plunge into the fast-paced Leicestershire hunting scene, where social maneuvering proves as treacherous as high timber fences.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Mary Rose

Mary Rose

J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie

A girl vanishes from a Hebridean island, returns completely unchanged, and later vanishes again—leaving behind a haunting legacy of lost time, aging loved ones, and a gentle ghost who has forgotten what she is searching for.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Mildred Arkell: A Novel. Vol. 1 (of 3)

Mildred Arkell: A Novel. Vol. 1 (of 3)

Wood, Henry, Mrs.

A proud cathedral town divided by class, a rash elopement that shatters multiple families, and a quiet woman who sacrifices her social standing to survive: Mrs. Henry Wood's nineteenth-century tale turns provincial respectable society inside out.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Mysterious Mr. Sabin

Mysterious Mr. Sabin

E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

A enigmatic foreigner moves through high-society London with a stolen secret, setting off a quiet war of ciphers, diplomatic intrigue, and high-stakes surveillance.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of New Collected Rhymes

New Collected Rhymes

Andrew Lang

A collection of poems turns historical sorrow, literary satire, and personal obsessions into formal, hauntingly melodic verse.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of On Everything

On Everything

Hilaire Belloc

Hope did not stay behind when Pandora opened her cursed container, for human survival has always relied on song to endure despair. Where singing dies, society falls into the icy hands of the wealthy and the cold.

British Literature8 min read