Free summaries
British Literature — page 90
4,542 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 90 of 95.
She's All the World to Me
Caine, Hall, Sir
HOOK Set on the rugged, mist-shrouded coast of the Isle of Man, this haunting tale follows a broken-hearted boy whose unrequited love and sacrifice lead him into a dark, unfolding tragedy upon the pitiless sea.
Tempest-Driven: A Romance (Vol. 1 of 3)
Richard Dowling
A tranquil London suburb becomes the stage for a chilling death, drawing an unsuspecting young man into a web of dark history, suspicion, and a woman’s fatal magnetism.
The avenger
Edgar Wallace
HOOK A detective pursues a shadowy serial killer who claims victims with terrifying precision, leaving only their severed heads behind as a grim calling card.
The Brooklyn murders
G. D. H. (George Douglas Howard) Cole
An aging theatrical titan’s birthday celebration ends in carnage, pulling his niece and her resourceful partner into a labyrinthine investigation where the obvious clues are the most dangerous deceptions.
The Gentleman Who Vanished: A Psychological Phantasy
Fergus Hume
A man commits a murder, then vanishes into a stolen body to escape the law. But the soul he inhabits is trapped in a web of occult secrets and a treacherous valet’s blackmail.
The Laird of Norlaw
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
The house of Norlaw stands beneath the ancient Eildon hills, a modest dwelling burdened by the shadow of a ruined, silent castle and the weight of a family’s vanished prosperity. It is a story of endurance, where brothers strive to restore a fallen name and mothers hold fast to their own through the long, quiet…
The old English dramatists
James Russell Lowell
This collection of lectures explores the immense, untamed genius of the Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights, inviting readers to rediscover a foundational era of English literature through a lens of deep, personal appreciation.
The Rover
Joseph Conrad
A weathered mariner returns to his native shores during the Napoleonic Wars, only to find his final, quiet vigil transformed into a desperate gamble for the lives of those he has come to love.
The Simpkins Plot
George A. Birmingham
The arrival of a stranger in a quiet Irish village triggers an elaborate, absurd, and well-intentioned campaign of social engineering that spirals rapidly out of control.
The storm of London: a social rhapsody
Fernande Blaze de Bury
When London is suddenly stripped of every garment, the city’s rigid social hierarchies dissolve, forcing an entire population to face the raw, unadorned reality of their own humanity.
Wilton School
F. E. (Frederic Edward) Weatherly
This Victorian tale charts the tragic collision between a boy’s search for justice and the cruel realities of a rigid school hierarchy. It is a poignant, moralizing portrait of childhood grief, isolation, and the ultimate, heavy cost of vengeance.
Witness for the Defence
A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason
HOOK A celebrated barrister discovers that the acquittal he engineered years ago for a woman accused of murder was built upon a lie, forcing a confrontation that threatens his career and her future.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 308: New Series, Saturday, November 24, 1849
Various
This nineteenth-century periodical offers a varied glimpse into the Victorian mind, blending practical life advice with travel observations and serialized fiction. It serves as a window into an era defined by professional ambition, class consciousness, and a burgeoning interest in the wider world.
Dolly Dialogues
Anthony Hope
This collection of sketches captures the art of the 1890s London drawing room, where the most dangerous weapon is a well-timed witticism. It is a portrait of a social circle that survives entirely on the strength of its own cleverness and the delicate, shifting boundaries of its members' affections.
Legend Land, Vol. 1: Being a Collection of Some of the Old Tales Told in Those Western Parts of Britain Served by the Great Western Railway
G. Basil (George Basil) Barham
This collection of folklore bridges the gap between the ancient, oral traditions of Britain’s western reaches and the modern age of railway travel, inviting readers to explore the landscapes that birthed these myths.
Men of Affairs
Roland Pertwee
A penniless man enters the world of high-stakes corporate espionage, trading his freedom for a chance to play a dangerous game against powerful financiers. This gripping tale of identity and endurance follows one man’s attempt to outwit a ruthless syndicate determined to extract a secret worth millions.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 108, June 15th, 1895
Various
A snapshot of Victorian life through a satirical lens, capturing the shifting social landscape, political absurdities, and the relentless pulse of London’s humor.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, March 22, 1916
Various
This volume captures the weary yet resilient spirit of wartime Britain, offering a satirical mirror to the anxieties, absurdities, and official posturing of the spring of 1916.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, June 11, 1892
Various
This collection captures the frantic, witty, and deeply parochial pulse of late-Victorian England, filtering the era’s political anxieties and social pretensions through a lens of relentless satire.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, September 3, 1892
Various
Seeking a glimpse into the Victorian mind? This collection of essays, verse, and satire captures the anxieties, social pretenses, and fleeting joys of late nineteenth-century British life.
The Cost of Kindness
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
A well-meaning act of superficial polite hypocrisy backfires completely, trapping a quiet village with the very rector they were desperate to see depart.
The Elect Lady
George MacDonald
A quiet, transformative journey unfolds in the Scottish countryside, where the rigid expectations of class and the hollow rituals of tradition are challenged by the radical simplicity of a life lived in direct obedience to divine instruction.
The Girl and Her Fortune
L. T. Meade
The sisters Brenda and Florence Heathcote finish school, only to learn their inheritance is gone. They must navigate a precarious, sudden poverty to discover who truly loves them for themselves and who is merely chasing a fortune.
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 Letters of Her Mother to Elizabeth
W. R. H. (William Rutherford Hayes) Trowbridge
This sharp, cynical correspondence offers a rare glimpse into the maneuvering of the British upper class at the turn of the century. It serves as a witty, unsparing companion piece to the social world of its predecessor.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
William Shakespeare
When a boastful, penniless knight attempts to woo two married women simultaneously, he finds himself ensnared in a web of elaborate, hilarious traps. In this world, the hunters quickly become the hunted.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 393, October 10, 1829
Various
This collection offers a vibrant glimpse into the intellectual curiosities, local traditions, and literary passions of early nineteenth-century British life. It serves as a time capsule of an era’s common interests.
The rasp
Philip MacDonald
A gentleman detective intervenes when a local police investigation goes astray, using his keen intuition and social detachment to untangle a web of deception surrounding a brutal murder.
The Scornful Lady
John Fletcher
A volatile romantic comedy of manners, this play tracks the high-stakes games of pride, courtship, and reckless excess played by two brothers and their stubborn, sharp-witted counterparts.
![Cover of The Search After Hapiness [sic]: A Tale](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-search-after-hapiness-sic-a-tale.webp)
The Search After Hapiness [sic]: A Tale
Unknown
A restless nobleman abandons his home in search of contentment, only to find that true satisfaction lies in the connections he desperately tried to leave behind.
The Tempest
William Shakespeare
A sorcerer ruling a lonely island orchestrates a storm to shipwreck his enemies, only to find that orchestrating their transformation—and his own—is the greater challenge.
The Touchstone of Fortune: Being the Memoir of Baron Clyde, Who Lived, Thrived, and Fell in the Doleful Reign of the So-called Merry Monarch, Charles II
Charles Major
HOOK In the decadent, treacherous court of Charles II, a young woman of unyielding integrity and her companion navigate a lethal web of royal schemes, desperate love, and the volatile whims of fortune.
![Cover of The unknown [Night watches, Part 7.]](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-unknown-night-watches-part-7-w-w-william-wymark-jacobs.webp)
The unknown [Night watches, Part 7.]
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
The night-watchman’s attempt to orchestrate a lesson in humility for a domineering wife backfires, ensnaring his own domestic life in a web of absurd jealousy and misplaced gallantry.
A Peep Behind the Scenes
Walton, O. F., Mrs.
A young girl born into the transient, hollow world of a traveling theater discovers that true peace lies not in the performance, but in the quiet faith she finds along the way.
A Safety Match
Ian Hay
A young woman marries a wealthy, stoic industrialist to rescue her family from poverty, only to discover that the true labor of love is building a partnership from the wreckage of their initial misunderstanding.
An Eye for an Eye
William Le Queux
The London shadows hide a lethal secret, where an innocent-looking coin or a simple game of cards may mask a cold-blooded design. A journalist and his friend must race to uncover the truth behind a series of inexplicable deaths.
Counter-Attack and Other Poems
Siegfried Sassoon
The innocence of youth is shattered by the mechanical slaughter of the trenches, leaving behind a generation of ghosts who haunt both the battlefield and the survivors who came home.
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare
A king’s daughter endures exile, disguise, and false accusations, all while her kingdom teeters on the brink of a Roman invasion. It is a sprawling, magical tale of forgiveness and the endurance of love.
Dick and Brownie
Mabel Quiller-Couch
HOOK Huldah, a neglected child, and her loyal, resilient dog flee a life of cruelty to find shelter, dignity, and a place to belong in this quiet, compassionate tale of redemption.
Elizabeth: the Disinherited Daughter: By E. Ben Ez-er
Ebenezer Arnold
The daughter of a wealthy farmer loses her inheritance for the sake of her faith, choosing the fervor of early American Methodism over the strictures of her father’s household.
Incognita
William Congreve
A chance meeting at a Florentine ball sets off a cascade of romantic errors, proving that true love is often found in the most tangled webs of disguise.
Jeanne of the Marshes
E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
A young heiress seeks to escape her predatory guardians, only to find an unexpected protector in the quiet, rugged isolation of the Norfolk marshes.
Keeping Up Appearances: Sailor's Knots, Part 12
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
Superstition often acts as a mirror for our own anxieties, revealing more about the observer than the observed. A night-watchman’s weary observation of a one-eyed cat serves as the gateway to a darkly humorous tale of gullibility and domestic manipulation.
Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings
Charles Dickens
A resilient widow and her devoted military friend build a makeshift family within the walls of a London boardinghouse. This narrative celebrates the quiet, extraordinary bonds that emerge from the routine of daily survival.
Nancy of Paradise Cottage
Shirley Watkins
Nancy Prescott, a spirited and intellectually ambitious young woman, navigates the social and financial anxieties of early 20th-century life while balancing the needs of her impractical mother and her beautiful, status-seeking sister, Alma. When their mother’s poor financial decisions threaten their future, Nancy…
Oddsfish!
Robert Hugh Benson
An exile from the cloisters enters the treacherous, glittering world of King Charles II, tasked with navigating the deadly sectarian conspiracies of seventeenth-century England.
Overlooked
Maurice Baring
The subtle, echoing nature of human connection and the persistent gap between how we are perceived and who we truly are lie at the heart of this quiet, observational drama.
Peacock Pie, a Book of Rhymes
Walter De la Mare
A collection of verses that dances between the nursery and the dream-world, this volume captures the elusive, silvery quality of childhood wonder. It is a portal into a landscape where the mundane and the magical are indistinguishable.