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British Literature — page 74
6,377 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 74 of 133.
That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 3
Frances Eleanor Trollope
A young woman standing firm against her mercenary family, an ambitious bachelor pursuing social standing, and an unexpected late-in-life match reshape a network of English lives across class divides.
The Cat
Violet Hunt
A domestic Persian cat recounts his upbringing, travels, and quiet observations of the humans who house him.
The doctor, &c., vol. 1 (of 7)
Robert Southey
A quiet Yorkshire home nurtures an eccentric, deeply curious mind through books, folklore, and rural routines. This sprawling, digressive chronicle follows the growth of young Daniel Dove as his world expands toward medicine and love.
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX, No. 1000, February 25, 1899
Various
A late-Victorian periodical offers a vivid window into the moral, social, and practical lives of young women at the turn of the century.
The Initials: A Story of Modern Life
Tautphoeus, Jemima Montgomery, Baroness
An upper-class young Englishman moves into a middle-class Munich household to master German, only to find his domestic education complicated by two very different sisters and the sharp-tongued family relative chronicling his every misstep.
The Master of Man: The Story of a Sin
Caine, Hall, Sir
When an impetuous young judge commits a dark, secret transgression with a rural girl, his rise to judicial power sets up a harrowing collision between the demands of public justice and the agonizing weight of his own hidden guilt.
The School Queens
L. T. Meade
A high-spirited girl must choose between status and integrity when her mother’s sudden second marriage threatens to ruin her reputation at an exclusive boarding school.
The sea mystery
Freeman Wills Crofts
A fisherman's line snags a heavy wooden crate in the shallow waters of a Welsh inlet, pulling up a battered, unrecognizable body that challenges the local police.
The skeleton crew
Anonymous
A phantom captain marshals an army of spectral ghouls to destroy a noble line, while living rogues plot for gold and women in eighteenth-century England.
Three Girls from School
L. T. Meade
A scheme at a girls' school unravels, exposing how one lie demands another until three futures are nearly ruined.
An open verdict
M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon
A young heiress trapped in a gloomy English country house must choose between an austere lover and a father’s bitter legacy, unaware that a scheming friend and a long-buried family secret threaten to ruin them all.
Belinda: An April Folly in Three Acts
A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne
A middle-aged beauty playing a game of lighthearted flirtation finds her idyllic spring day disrupted when her long-estranged husband unexpectedly reappears.
Benighted
J. B. (John Boynton) Priestley
Three stranded travelers, forced off a storm-swept Welsh mountain road, seek refuge in a remote, decaying mansion only to find that the bizarre family inside poses a far greater threat than the tempest raging outside.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 68, No. 421, November 1850
Various
A vibrant tapestry of Victorian fiction, international geopolitics, legal debates, and sharp editorial commentary fills the pages of this mid-nineteenth-century literary journal.
Her own people
B. M. (Bithia Mary) Croker
A polished young heiress leaves the brilliant ballrooms of European society for an Anglo-Indian outpost, only to discover that her true origin is tied to the very family she believes she is visiting as an outsider.
John Herring: A West of England Romance. Volume 2 (of 3)
S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
A proud, displaced heiress navigating mid-nineteenth-century Devonshire finds her delicate sensibilities tested by predatory swindlers, broken engagements, and the unspoken sacrifices of a devoted suitor.
Sophia: A Romance
Stanley John Weyman
A headstrong young heiress flees an arranged marriage for a charming rogue, only to discover that the world of Georgian England is far more dangerous, and true honor far rarer, than her romantic dreams suggested.
Tales for Christmas Eve
Rhoda Broughton
The veil between the living and the dead grows thin when the candles flicker low. These accounts explore the intersection of domestic life and the inexplicable, where the certainty of Victorian comfort is fractured by the uncanny.
The Ashiel mystery
Marion Bryce
A wealthy aristocrat is shot dead in his Highland estate, leaving a trail of fabricated footprints and a family tangled in secrets. Detective Gimblet must trace the single overlooked flaw in a murderer's careful design.
The Caged Lion
Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge
A timid Scottish noble comes of age under the tutelage of two allied kings, trading a coward’s sanctuary for the burdens of true manhood.
The English Rogue: Continued in the Life of Meriton Latroon, and Other Extravagants, Comprehending the most Eminent Cheats of Both Sexes: The Third Part
Richard Head
A pregnant wife fabricates a tale of black cravings to hide her child’s true parentage, while innkeepers, pickpockets, and privateers turn every human encounter into a profitable swindle.
The Honour of the Clintons
Archibald Marshall
A landed English family's cherished reputation is put to the test when a high-society theft, a quiet blackmail scheme, and a tragic death threaten to unravel their gilded world from within.
The Knave of Diamonds
Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell
A wild heart will break or bend under the hand of the only man he respects.
The Last Tenant
B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon
A spectral cat guides an unsuspecting suburban husband into a web of medical villainy and forgotten identity.
The Staying Guest
Carolyn Wells
An orphaned girl with no name she recognizes arrives uninvited at a quiet New England mansion, where two elderly sisters are forced to choose between strict propriety and an irresistible child who simply refuses to leave.
A Bayard From Bengal: Being some account of the Magnificent and Spanking Career of Chunder Bindabun Bhosh
F. Anstey
A young Indian scholar arrives in England with grand ambitions, armed only with a flowery vocabulary and a misplaced sense of chivalry, only to find himself entangled in a series of absurd social and sporting misadventures.
A Christmas Child: A Sketch of a Boy-Life
Mrs. Molesworth
This gentle, elegiac portrait follows the brief, luminous life of a young boy whose tender spirit and deep curiosity leave an indelible mark on those around him.
Charles Auchester, Volume 2 (of 2)
Elizabeth Sara Sheppard
A young musician navigates the transcendent, often overwhelming demands of genius and devotion within an idealized world of symphonic art.
Chronicles of Dustypore: A Tale of Modern Anglo-Indian Society
Cunningham, H. S. (Henry Stewart), Sir
The heat of the Indian plains is only matched by the intensity of the social pressure in this refined, often claustrophobic world where duty and desire collide. Beneath the veneer of colonial etiquette, hearts are tested by the relentless demands of a life lived on the imperial frontier.
Doctor Birch and His Young Friends
William Makepeace Thackeray
This is a wry, bittersweet chronicle of life at a provincial boarding school, observing the small dramas, power struggles, and heartaches of both students and masters. It offers a candid look at the fragility of childhood joys and the persistence of adult burdens.
Further Experiences of an Irish R.M
E. Oe. (Edith Oenone) Somerville
A weary magistrate navigates the collision of rigid English expectations and the unpredictable, riotous spirit of the Irish countryside in this collection of wry, observant tales.
Gerald Eversley's Friendship: A Study in Real Life
J. E. C. (James Edward Cowell) Welldon
This observant, deeply melancholy narrative follows the quiet, scholarly life of a boy whose intense devotion to a school friend and a noble family shapes his path from a lonely youth into a life of solitary public service.
Guy Deverell, v. 1 of 2
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
A man of high social standing finds his peaceful life unraveling when a mysterious guest arrives at his country estate, bringing with him the heavy, unspoken weight of a long-buried family secret.
Jack Carstairs of the power house
Sydney Sandys
This story of a young electrical engineer is a bracing, muscular portrait of professional ambition and moral combat in the early twentieth century. It captures the raw friction between the technical demands of a burgeoning industry and the messy, often treacherous realities of human ambition.
Love's Labour's Lost
William Shakespeare
Four young noblemen swear off romance for three years of strict study, only to fall instantly in love when a foreign princess and her court arrive at their doorstep.
Maid of the Mist
John Oxenham
Two survivors of a shipwreck build a life of quiet devotion while trapped on a desolate, debris-strewn sandbank. This story explores how beauty and purpose can be forged from isolation.
Mirk Abbey, Volume 2 (of 3)
James Payn
The specter of a secret marriage and a dark, vengeful past haunts a noble household, where a mother’s desperate efforts to preserve her family’s honor threaten to undo her own life.
Poeta de Tristibus
Anonymous
The Muse is a fickle patron, and in this sharp-tongued satire, a destitute poet discovers that the path to literary immortality is paved with empty bellies and broken promises.
Pygmalion and the Image
William Morris
The artist’s obsession bridges the divide between stone and spirit, turning a sculptor’s silent, marble masterpiece into a living, breathing partner through the sheer intensity of his longing.
Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Volume 1
Unknown
A guide through the forgotten origins of English verse, spanning initial Celtic echoes to the rich, complex lyrics of early modern poets.
Studies in Wives
Marie Belloc Lowndes
This collection explores the hidden fault lines of Edwardian matrimony, exposing how social expectations and stifling domesticity often force wives into silence, deception, or tragic rebellion.
The Forlorn Hope: A Tale of Old Chelsea
Hall, S. C., Mrs.
This evocative Victorian narrative bridges the gap between local history and social advocacy, blending the atmospheric charm of 1830s Chelsea with a poignant, urgent plea for the medical care of the impoverished sick.
The Intriguers
William Le Queux
A struggling Italian street musician is swept from the snowy alleys of Victorian London into the dangerous, high-stakes world of Russian imperial espionage.
The Prude's Progress: A Comedy in Three Acts
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
A penniless brother and sister navigate poverty and a web of romantic misunderstandings in this brisk, witty Victorian comedy of manners and moral reckoning.
The Weird Picture
John R. Carling
A man discovers his brother has gone missing just before his wedding, only to find himself ensnared in a murderous obsession centered on a mysterious portrait.
An Unknown Lover
Vaizey, George de Horne, Mrs.
A young woman’s correspondence with a stranger in a far-off land evolves into a test of her courage, leading her to abandon her cloistered life for an uncertain journey toward a mysterious, long-distance romance.
Christie, the King's Servant: A Sequel to "Christie's Old Organ"
Walton, O. F., Mrs.
A simple bunch of wildflowers triggers a vivid, long-dormant memory of a life-changing summer in a remote fishing village.
Heritage
V. (Victoria) Sackville-West
The story of a young woman’s untamed nature and the men caught in her orbit unfolds across the English countryside and the distant, sun-drenched ruins of the Near East. It is a haunting exploration of how human heritage—the deep-seated, often irrational pull of one's origins—shapes the choices we make when we…