Free summaries
Novels — page 5
210 public-domain novels books, summarised. Page 5 of 5.
The Water of the Wondrous Isles
William Morris
A stolen child escapes her witch captor in a magical boat, navigating strange islands and noble quests to discover her own identity, true love, and freedom.
Empire
Clifford D. Simak
When a corporate titan monopolizes the energy of the entire Solar System, two visionary scientists unleash a revolutionary power source to spark a planetary revolution and free humanity from industrial tyranny.
Vendetta: A Story of One Forgotten
Marie Corelli
A betrayed Neapolitan nobleman escapes a buried vault to orchestrate a methodical, merciless vengeance against his unfaithful wife and treacherous best friend.
The Seven Who Were Hanged
Leonid Andreyev
Condemned to the gallows, seven prisoners wait out their final hours in imperial Russia, each forced to confront the terrible, absolute mystery of their own impending annihilation.
The Side Of The Angels: A Novel
Basil King
A physician finds his moral compass spinning as he becomes entangled in the lives of a struggling family and his own brother’s reckless pursuit of a beautiful, impoverished young woman.
Botchan (Master Darling)
Soseki Natsume
A hot-headed Tokyo youth leaves the capital for a teaching post in a backwater town, only to find himself in a bruising clash with corrupt superiors and unruly students.
The Slayer of Souls
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
A young woman who has survived the brutal tutelage of an ancient, malevolent cult joins forces with a federal agent to thwart an occult conspiracy threatening the modern world. This high-stakes clash pits the shadow-warriors of the East against the law enforcement of the West.
Key Out of Time
Andre Norton
The discovery of a prehistoric, aquatic civilization on a distant planet forces a desperate struggle against ancient enemies who manipulate history itself.
The Diary of an Ennuyée
Mrs. (Anna) Jameson
A young woman travels through Italy to escape a private sorrow, finding solace in the beauty of art and landscape. This intimate diary documents her physical decline and her profound, evolving connection to the classical world.
The Home
Fredrika Bremer
A portrait of mid-19th-century Swedish domesticity, this narrative explores the quiet tensions, moral growth, and inevitable transitions of a large family navigating the complexities of middle-class life. It is an intimate study of character and faith.
The Intruder
Gabriele D'Annunzio
The story of a man haunted by the presence of a child who is not his own, this psychological study explores the suffocating weight of a secret and the destructive power of human jealousy.
Lumen
Camille Flammarion
The universe is not merely a collection of silent stars, but a vast, living record of every event that has ever occurred. By traveling faster than light, one may witness the past unfolding in the present.
Smoke
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
The past is a phantom, but the present is a fever. A man caught between a stable future and a dangerous, long-forgotten love discovers that both paths may be nothing more than drifting, hollow haze.
Light O' the Morning: The Story of an Irish Girl
L. T. Meade
Nora O’Shanaghgan carries the weight of a crumbling ancestral estate and a father’s fading spirit, yet she remains a vibrant, untamable force in a world caught between tradition and modernization.
Assassin
Jesse F. (Jesse Franklin) Bone
A lone observer watches a world succumb to the gentle, hypnotic influence of benevolent visitors from the stars. He understands what no one else dares to consider: the price of a perfect peace is the end of human freedom.
Doña Perfecta
Benito Pérez Galdós
A young engineer arrives in a provincial Spanish town expecting a quiet family reunion, only to find himself trapped in a web of lethal, tradition-bound malice.
The Gypsy Queen's Vow
May Agnes Fleming
A wronged woman’s curse sets into motion a sweeping saga of long-hidden secrets, stolen children, and the inevitable collision between the past and the present.
The Valley of the Kings
Marmaduke William Pickthall
A naive Syrian painter gets swept up in the grand illusions of a visiting English tourist, mistaking Western patronage for true brotherhood until reality forces him home.