Free summaries
British Literature — page 81
4,240 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 81 of 89.
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.
John Bull
George Colman
A hot-tempered brazier faces ruin when his daughter disappears, triggering a collision between the rigid morality of the working class and the careless indiscretions of the landed gentry.
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.
Manners Makyth Man: Ship's Company, Part 12
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
A weary night-watchman finds his peace disrupted by a prankster and his clever sister, leading to a long night of fruitless errands and a ghostly encounter. It is a classic tale of comeuppance set against the rhythmic, working-class backdrop of London’s riverside.
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.
'Me and Nobbles'
Amy Le Feuvre
A lonely boy with a wooden-headed cane learns to navigate loss, family reconciliation, and the quiet promises of faith.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93, Nov. 12, 1887
Various
Caught mid-stride in the autumn of 1887, London pauses to mock its own absurdities, lampooning stuffy politicians, theatrical failures, and street-corner chaos with razor-sharp Victorian wit.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, February 28, 1891
Various
A sharp look through the smoky, highly decorated glass of late-Victorian society reveals a world obsessed with status, nervous about its money, and fiercely protective of its facial hair.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, October 27, 1920
Various
A snapshot of post-World War I England, this collection captures the skepticism, exhaustion, and absurd wit of a nation attempting to navigate the transition from total war to an uncertain, often ridiculous, peace.
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.
Susan: A Story for Children
Amy Walton
When a young girl is sent away from home to live with a distant relative, she discovers that the most difficult lessons are not found in books, but in the challenging, flawed people around her.
The happy tree
Rosalind Murray
A young woman watches yellow leaves drop onto a suburban street, tracing the quiet path that brought her from an idyllic childhood to a muted, sensible adulthood.
The law of copyright
William Wordsworth
An aging poet steps out of privacy to publish a public declaration supporting parliamentary reform for authorial property rights.
The Pagan's Cup
Fergus Hume
A stolen relic, hidden family secrets, and a sinister past disrupt an isolated English village.
The Passionate Pilgrim
William Shakespeare
Desire collides with deception across a landscape of pastoral beauty and sharp romantic disillusionment.
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.
The Time of Roses
L. T. Meade
A young woman who sells her authorial voice to survive in London finds that deceit pays high immediate dividends but exacts a terrible toll on the soul.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Christian's Mistake
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
A young woman's second marriage to a much older man brings her into a household of motherless children, where she must navigate family tensions and her own past to find her place.
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.
Good Intentions: Ship's Company, Part 3
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
A night-watchman’s scheme to save a slippery sea captain from two simultaneous courtships collapses into a tangle of absurd misunderstandings, locked doors, and an extraordinarily furious wife.
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.
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.
Married Life
T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
A young bride hides her face in a bedroom pillow to test her husband's sympathy, only to listen in silent dismay as he falls fast asleep.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Girls of St. Olave's
Mabel Mackintosh
Human self-centeredness gives way under the weight of sudden loss and quiet spiritual calling in a domestic world where every choice reshapes a family's soul.
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.
The Lost Dahlia
Mary Russell Mitford
A woman's quest to find her lost dahlia leads her on a journey through picturesque landscapes and unexpected discoveries.
The Love Affairs of Pixie
Vaizey, George de Horne, Mrs.
A spirited young Irish woman discovers that a plain face and an uncertain engagement cannot keep her from finding a true, unexpected love.
The Pacha of Many Tales
Frederick Marryat
A powerful governor seeks distraction from the perilous insecurity of his office, unwittingly opening his court to a endless procession of yarns, tall tales, and nested histories.
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.
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.
The Wharf by the Docks: A Novel
Florence Warden
A mysterious disappearance, a web of secrets, and a young man's quest for truth in the shadow of a grand estate.
Town Versus Country
Mary Russell Mitford
A young man returns from London draped in urban affectations, only to discover that the rural world and the woman he left behind are still waiting for his return.
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 05
Unknown
A tapestry of rustic life, historical violence, and moral trial unfolds across the Scottish Borders, where ordinary folk encounter murder, political intrigue, and sudden mercy.
Windows
John Galsworthy
A well-meaning bourgeois family attempts to rehabilitate a young woman recently released from prison, only to find their idealistic intentions colliding with raw human nature.
A Poached Peerage
Magnay, William, Sir
When an Australian fortune-hunter is mistaken for a missing English nobleman, a web of fraudulent titles, absurd duels, and eager heiresses threatens to ensnare everyone involved.
Bungay Castle: A Novel. v. 1/2
Mrs. (Elizabeth) Bonhote
A long-buried captive, a stern patriarch, and a mysterious dog lead two young lovers through dark subterranean vaults into the light of unexpected joy.
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.
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.
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.