Free summaries
Historical Novels — page 10
697 public-domain historical novels books, summarised. Page 10 of 15.
At the Emperor's Wish: A Tale of the New Japan
Oscar K. (Oscar King) Davis
This tale of loyalty and transition follows the intersecting lives of two families in a rapidly modernizing Japan, where the rigid hierarchies of the past collide with the singular, unifying purpose of a nation at war.
Vergilius: A Tale of the Coming of Christ
Irving Bacheller
The light of a new era breaks over the ancient world, drawing a weary Roman soldier and his beloved toward a quiet, celestial miracle. This narrative bridges the moral decay of an empire with the profound hope of a singular, transformative birth.
Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Volume 2 (of 2): A picture of Judaism, in the century which preceded the advent of our Savior
Friedrich Strauss
A young man’s spiritual and physical journey through the ancient Holy Land offers an immersive, detailed reconstruction of Jewish life in the century preceding the arrival of the Savior.
In the Palace of the King: A Love Story of Old Madrid
F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
A tale of love, intrigue, and honor set in the court of King Philip II of Spain.
Kate Danton, or, Captain Danton's Daughters: A Novel
May Agnes Fleming
A tale of three sisters navigating passion, secrets, and the heavy weight of social expectations in a 19th-century Canadian household. It is a story where impulsive choices lead to lasting, often painful, consequences.
The hidden treasure
Lucy Ellen Guernsey
In the shadow of Henry VIII’s England, a young man discovers a forbidden Bible, igniting a dangerous quest for truth that forces his family to choose between their faith and their lives.
The Earl's promise
Riddell, J. H., Mrs.
A young woman inherits a fortune and finds herself ensnared in the volatile social and legal traps of an Irish community, where secrets of murder and ruin dictate the fates of the landed and the desperate.
Uarda : a Romance of Ancient Egypt
Georg Ebers
Amidst the political shadows and golden decadence of ancient Thebes, a disgraced priest and a princess navigate a dangerous web of intrigue, forbidden love, and shifting loyalties to the Pharaoh.
Calvert of Strathore
Abbe Carter Goodloe
A young American secretary finds himself entangled in the lethal intrigue of the French Revolution while serving under Thomas Jefferson in Paris.
The History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome
Unknown
An ancient prince, condemned to silence by a celestial prophecy, must survive his stepmother’s lethal machinations with the help of seven cryptic sages. This intricate web of frame-stories reveals how wisdom, when wielded with patience, can dismantle even the most calculated lies.
Tuen, Slave and Empress
Kathleen Gray Nelson
She begins as a starved child building a pedestal for a broken Buddha in a ruined temple; she ends in an imperial garden, an old ruler staring down national defeat while accepting a silver-bound Testament from women across her empire. Kathleen Gray Nelson’s 1898 fictionalized biography follows Tuen from her sale by…
Hebrew Heroes: A Tale Founded on Jewish History
A. L. O. E.
Sacrificed to Syrian tyranny, the martyrs of Judea leave behind a shattered remnant of believers who must choose between deadly apostasy and armed resistance, finding in the house of Mattathias the faith to ignite a revolution.
Caste
William Alexander Fraser
The stability of the British Raj in India is precariously balanced against the hidden machinations of local rulers and the fanatical devotion of ancient, ritual-bound sects. This historical fiction weaves a tale of duty, betrayal, and a doomed romance that plays out against the backdrop of an empire on the brink of…
Roger the ranger: A story of border life among the Indians
Eliza F. Pollard
This narrative captures the tragic collision of cultures during the French and Indian War, following two men whose lifelong brotherhood is fractured by loyalty to opposing sides and the brutal realities of the frontier.
Miracle Gold: A Novel (Vol. 1 of 3)
Richard Dowling
A young woman’s desperate midnight flight from a predatory employer sets in motion a high-stakes collision between a brilliant, vengeful dwarf and a rising political star.
Nero
Stephen Phillips
HOOK Driven by an insatiable need for artistic expression and political control, a young emperor descends into a cycle of matricide and madness.
Atmâ: A Romance
C. A. (Caroline Augusta) Frazer
A fallen soldier seeks his true inheritance across a shattered homeland, only to discover that love, honour, and faith carry costs heavier than death.
Count Alarcos
Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield
A nobleman’s choice between a forgotten love and his present life leads to a ruinous pact in this somber 13th-century tragedy.
In the Roaring Fifties
Edward Dyson
The Australian gold rush transforms a reticent newcomer into a man of the earth, bridging the distance between his English roots and the wild, untamed promise of the colonial frontier.
Rogues' Haven
Roy Bridges
A young man finds his life upended when a mysterious solicitor arrives to reveal his true heritage, leading him into the heart of a decaying estate ruled by a tyrannical, aging kinsman.
The Viking's Skull
John R. Carling
HOOK A mysterious runic ring, a secret subterranean crypt, and a long-hidden family crime collide in this atmospheric mystery. Ancient Norse legends and modern aristocratic deceit intertwine to determine the rightful heir of a crumbling English estate.
Down among men
Will Levington Comfort
A disillusioned journalist seeking truth on the battlefields of Manchuria finds his life permanently altered by a network of extraordinary companions and a love that demands ultimate sacrifice.
Dulcie Carlyon: A novel. Volume 3 (of 3)
James Grant
Amidst the smoke of the Zulu War and the shadowed corridors of a Scottish estate, lost letters, forged debts, and steadfast hearts collide to reshape a family's destiny.
The First Christmas Tree: A Story of the Forest
Henry Van Dyke
A single act of courage in the dark heart of a pagan forest replaces a blood-soaked sacrifice with a living green tree of hope.
Persephone of Eleusis: A Romance of Ancient Greece
Clare Winger Harris
Against the tumultuous backdrop of the Persian Wars, a young Persian officer and a Greek maiden navigate a dangerous labyrinth of divided loyalties, political intrigue, and enduring devotion.
The Justice of the King
Hamilton Drummond
HOOK A young courtier finds himself caught in the lethal, shadow-filled games of a dying King, where the only currency is absolute loyalty and the only reward for failure is the hangman’s noose.
The Merchant of Berlin: An Historical Novel
L. (Luise) Mühlbach
Amid the ravages of the Seven Years' War, a steadfast Berlin merchant struggles to save his city and his loved ones from the ruthless currents of history and human ingratitude.
A Witch in Time
Herb Williams
A fugitive from the 25th century kidnaps a young Puritan woman from the gallows to save her life, inadvertently triggering a lifelong chase through the annals of history. They attempt to outrun a cold-blooded inspector who seeks to restore the "correct" timeline by any means necessary.
Illustrations of political economy, Volume 5 (of 9)
Harriet Martineau
This volume brings together two distinct narratives designed to illuminate the complexities of global trade, currency, and the fragility of financial institutions. It serves as a pragmatic guide to the forces that govern market stability and the human cost of economic upheaval.
Pretty Michal
Mór Jókai
Pretty Michal is a sweeping, gothic-inflected historical romance set in 17th-century Hungary, where the lives of a sheltered minister’s daughter and a spirited young man are violently upended by social rigidities and the grim shadow of the executioner’s trade.
The Duke's Prize
Maturin M. (Maturin Murray) Ballou
A destitute young artist must rely on raw talent and a hidden masterwork to win a grand prize, claim the woman he loves, and outmaneuver the lethal schemes of envious Florentine rivals.
The book of Artemas: concerning men, and the things that men did do, at the time when there was war
Andrew Cassels Brown
Written in a faux-biblical cadence, this satirical chronicle lampoons the political machinations, societal shifts, and personal absurdities of the British home front during the Great War.
The Lady of Fort St. John
Mary Hartwell Catherwood
A resilient woman commands a besieged wilderness fortress, caught between rival colonial powers and the encroaching shadows of a high-stakes, historical power struggle.
Vittoria
George Meredith
The struggle for Italian independence finds its beating heart in a young singer whose voice and loyalties define the fire of a nation’s birth.
Gudrid the Fair: A Tale of the Discovery of America
Maurice Hewlett
HOOK This is a lyrical reimagining of the Norse discovery of North America, shifting the focus from the icy horizon to the intimate, often tragic lives of the people behind the sagas.
The Chaldean Magician: An Adventure in Rome in the Reign of the Emperor Diocletian
Ernst Eckstein
This tale of ancient Roman intrigue follows two friends as they peel back the elaborate stagecraft of a celebrated mystic to save a young man’s doomed romance. It is a brisk, investigative drama set against the backdrop of Diocletian’s empire.
The Prize
Sydney C. Grier
A young woman navigates the treacherous political landscape of a fictional Balkan state, trading her identity and freedom for the intoxicating promise of power and imperial restoration. This sharp-witted narrative explores the cost of ambition in a region defined by instability.
The Silver Cross
Eugène Sue
This account frames the life of a revolutionary preacher through the eyes of an enslaved witness, portraying his ministry as a direct threat to the wealth and hypocrisy of the ruling class.
In Naaman's House
Marian MacLean Finney
A young Israelite maiden, torn from her home by invaders, finds herself navigating the complex loyalties and hidden sorrows within the household of a high-ranking Syrian officer.
The house of five gables
Mary Johnson Holmes
The House of Five Gables is a somber, atmospheric domestic drama that explores the crushing weight of hidden sins within an isolated nineteenth-century West Virginia estate.
The truce of God: A tale of the eleventh century
George H. (George Henry) Miles
A tragic feudal blood feud threatens to consume two noble families until the church intervenes with a solemn mandate of peace.
Our Lady of the Pillar
Eça de Queirós
A devout knight’s pursuit of a sequestered noblewoman leads him through a supernatural encounter with the dead, ultimately saving his life and securing his heart’s desire.
The World Before Them: A Novel. Volume 3 (of 3)
Susanna Moodie
A quiet, redemptive tale of shifting social fortunes and the endurance of integrity, this novel navigates the tension between inherited class and individual character. It remains a testament to the author’s keen eye for domestic discord and the moral weight of simple, honest living.
Uarda : a Romance of Ancient Egypt
Georg Ebers
In the shadow of the Great Pyramids, a young priest and a royal princess find their faith and hearts tested by the rigid, ancient laws of a society built on tradition and blood.
Walladmor, Vol. 1 (of 2): "Freely Translated into German from the English of Sir Walter Scott." And Now Freely Translated from the German into English
Willibald Alexis
A strange, meta-literary puzzle emerges from the fog of the Welsh coast, where a lost traveler wanders into a landscape filled with smugglers, secret identities, and the heavy atmosphere of a counterfeit masterpiece.
Historical vignettes, 1st series
Bernard Capes
These brief, atmospheric snapshots capture the weight of history through the eyes of the famous and the forgotten alike. They transform cold facts into intimate, often unsettling, moments of human crisis.
Our Own Set: A Novel
Ossip Schubin
Rome in 1870 is a glittering arena where highborn vanity and high-society arrogance quietly trample the innocent.
A Christian But a Roman
Mór Jókai
Amid the glittering decay of the Roman Empire, a noble soldier seeks vengeance against a decadent emperor while torn between a scandalous courtesan and a martyred saint.