Free summaries
German Literature — page 4
161 public-domain german literature books, summarised. Page 4 of 4.
The Youth of the Great Elector
L. (Luise) Mühlbach
A young prince must navigate court intrigue, foreign exile, and deadly domestic treason to claim his rightful throne in war-torn seventeenth-century Germany.
Buzz a Buzz
Wilhelm Busch
An industrious hive flees its snoring keeper, setting off a cascading series of village mishaps, absurd rescues, and nocturnal insect revels.
Stories by Foreign Authors: German
Unknown
A chance meeting at sea, a tragic obsession with music, and a late-night prank in a snowbound city bind these classic German tales together.
Specimens of German Romance
C. F. van der (Carl Franz) Velde
This collection gathers historical fiction from the early nineteenth century, framing the intense, often brutal friction between the fading traditions of the knightly class and the rising, stubborn power of the mercantile elite. Through the lens of the sixteenth-century German city, it explores how rigid social…
Withered Leaves: A Novel. Vol. 3 (of 3)
Rudolf von Gottschall
The ghosts of a hidden past haunt a fragile romance, forcing two lovers to abandon their lives in Germany for a desperate flight toward the mysterious East.
Ekkehard: A Tale of the Tenth Century. Vol. 1 (of 2)
Joseph Victor von Scheffel
A learned monk finds his cloistered life shattered by an unexpected summons to the court of a formidable Duchess, thrusting him into a world of political intrigue and brutal warfare.
The Little Glass Man, and Other Stories
Wilhelm Hauff
A collection of wonder-filled, moralizing tales that bridge the gap between ancient folklore and modern narrative, exploring the thin lines between human greed, magical intervention, and redemption.
Joseph in the Snow, and The Clockmaker. In Three Volumes. Vol. I
Berthold Auerbach
A child wanders into a winter storm, setting off a chain of events that exposes the hidden cruelty and redemption of a fractured village.
Three plays by Frederic Hebbel
Friedrich Hebbel
Human tragedy unfolds when rigid honor, political ambition, and moral arrogance blind people to the quiet dignity of human devotion.
The Son of His Mother
Clara Viebig
When childless Berliners adopt a babe found frozen on the high moors, they believe love and privilege can bend any nature, only to watch bloodlines outrun nurture as the years slip away.
The Wish: A Novel
Hermann Sudermann
A young woman’s secret, unspoken desire for her ailing sister’s death leads to a haunting confrontation with her own conscience. This stark psychological portrait explores the thin, terrifying line between love and betrayal.
Bertha Garlan
Arthur Schnitzler
A quiet widow seeks to revive a long-dormant romance, only to discover that the past is a ghost and her own desires are a source of profound, isolating distress. This narrative of provincial stagnation and the search for meaning captures the dissonance between internal longing and the stifling reality of social…
Joseph in the Snow, and The Clockmaker. In Three Volumes. Vol. III
Berthold Auerbach
A quiet, diligent clockmaker faces the slow erosion of his marriage and the crushing weight of isolation, finding his salvation only when a natural disaster forces him and his prideful wife to confront their true selves.
Too Rich: A Romance
Adolf Streckfuss
Wealth, social standing, and the crushing weight of public perception collide in this Victorian-era German romance. It is a story of how material fortunes often mask—or intensify—the poverty of the human spirit.
The Eichhofs: A Romance
Bethusy-Huc, Valeska, Gräfin von
A young Prussian nobleman rejects traditional military ambitions for practical study, igniting a ripple of financial choices, domestic tensions, and romantic missteps across his ancestral estate.
Felicitas: A Tale of the German Migrations: A.D. 476
Felix Dahn
A stone-mason’s inscription promises peace to a Roman home in fifth-century Salzburg, but invading Germanic tribes soon test whether love can survive the fall of an empire.
The Rebellion in the Cevennes, an Historical Novel. Vol. I
Ludwig Tieck
In the sun-baked hills of eighteenth-century France, a brutal war of faith drives families apart, turning high-minded devotion into a weapon that leaves both saints and sinners drenched in blood.