Free summaries
Novels — page 6
286 public-domain novels books, summarised. Page 6 of 6.
The Planet Savers
Marion Zimmer Bradley
When a deadly epidemic threatens the cold world of Darkover, a suppressed personality is artificially awakened to lead a desperate trek across freezing mountains into the treetop cities of an alien race.
The Saint
Antonio Fogazzaro
A repentant sinner abandons his worldly life to seek spiritual purification, only to find himself at the stormy intersection of divine love, ecclesiastical politics, and the relentless devotion of the woman he left behind. <Image alt="Cover of Antonio Fogazzaro's novel El Santo showing a mountain monastery"…
The Flame
Gabriele D'Annunzio
A young visionary artist seeks to forge a new national myth in Venice, entangled between the aging, tragic brilliance of his muse and the dangerous, youthful allure of a rival.
The Minus Woman
R. R. (Russell Robert) Winterbotham
A lonely asteroid becomes the stage for a cosmic collision between two realities, where the laws of physics dissolve into the arrival of an impossible visitor.
Boyhood
Tolstoy, Leo, graf
The transition from the sheltered innocence of childhood to the turbulent, self-conscious landscape of adolescence is a journey of painful discovery and sudden, illuminating insights.
The Heart of Cherry McBain: A Novel
Douglas Durkin
Amid the rugged, unforgiving wilderness of early Canada, a woman of indomitable will and a quiet, steadfast laborer find their fates entangled with a violent, ambitious foreman.
The Lord of the Sea
M. P. (Matthew Phipps) Shiel
An ambitious outcast rises from the depths of a brutal prison system to command the world's oceans through a feat of unparalleled engineering. This sprawling narrative explores the intersection of messianic ambition, industrial dominance, and the volatile politics of global displacement.
The Tree of Knowledge: A Novel
Reynolds, Baillie, Mrs.
A chance encounter in a tranquil English valley binds a group of young lives together, forcing them to navigate secrets, sudden tragedy, and the difficult transition from innocence to maturity.
The Counterplot
Hope Mirrlees
The literary temperament is a restless, acquisitive force that consumes the people around it to fuel its own creation. This story examines the inner life of an observer who turns her family’s domestic friction into a masterpiece of psychological displacement.
The Imperialist
Sara Jeannette Duncan
In the shifting landscape of a young Canadian town, an idealist finds his political dreams and personal loyalties tested by the weight of an empire and the silence of his own heart.
The Kingdom of Slender Swords
Hallie Erminie Rives
This turn-of-the-century novel captures the shifting intersections of East and West during the Meiji era, blending a dramatic mystery with an earnest exploration of cultural collision. It chronicles the experiences of Western expatriates navigating the rigid social codes and spiritual depth of Japan, ultimately…
Highways in Hiding
George O. (George Oliver) Smith
A man discovers a hidden network of roads and a mysterious, world-altering disease, finding that in a society governed by telepaths, the truth is the most dangerous secret of all.
Victor Victorious
Cecil Starr Johns
A young man discovers his true heritage and must navigate the treacherous waters of court intrigue to save a kingdom from corruption.
An Imperial Marriage
Arthur W. Marchmont
A frantic race against political conspiracies, this story follows a man thrust into a lethal web of German court intrigue after discovering a secret that threatens a high-stakes imperial wedding.
The Village in the Jungle
Leonard Woolf
A primal, claustrophobic struggle unfolds in a remote village where the surrounding jungle is not merely a setting, but a suffocating, lethal protagonist.
The Wave: An Egyptian Aftermath
Algernon Blackwood
A man haunted since childhood by a vision of a suspended, threatening wave finds his internal life upended when he finally meets the woman who embodies his lifelong, unattainable ideal.
The shadow kingdom
Robert E. (Robert Ervin) Howard
Kull of Atlantis has seized the throne of Valusia, but he soon discovers that reigning over an ancient, decadent civilization is far more dangerous than the open warfare of his youth.
The Star Hyacinths
James H. Schmitz
A remote, long-abandoned shipwreck holds a fortune in stolen gems and a terrifying, unseen killer. A lone investigator must outwit treacherous partners to claim the salvage before his pursuers arrive.
The Velvet Glove
Henry Seton Merriman
A young woman caught in the machinations of nineteenth-century Spain must choose between the cold walls of a convent and the dangerous, uncertain life offered by the man she has been forced to marry.
Venus Equilateral
George O. (George Oliver) Smith
A brilliant engineer and his team maintain the vital communications relay station orbiting between Earth and Venus, navigating corporate espionage, cosmic piracy, and the destabilizing arrival of life-changing technology.
The Human Chord
Algernon Blackwood
A small, unassuming man is recruited to a remote mansion to participate in a dangerous experiment where sound acts as a key to cosmic, reality-altering power. He finds himself caught between the allure of becoming a god and the simple, grounding weight of human love.
The Money Master, Complete
Gilbert Parker
A man who prides himself on his wisdom discovers, through the collapse of his home and fortune, that his greatest weakness is the very vanity he mistakes for philosophy.
The Scapegoat
Caine, Hall, Sir
HOOK In a land where law is tyranny and life remains unchanged for centuries, a father struggles to protect his blind and deaf daughter from a corrupt world.
Vigorish
John Berryman
HOOK Telekinetic surgeons and backwoods seers collide in a high-stakes gambling underworld. This story explores whether superior mental power can ever truly tilt the odds in a rigged game of life.
Flower o' the Peach
Perceval Gibbon
A young woman seeking recovery in the South African Karoo finds her life entangled with a tragic, isolated medical doctor and the fractured lives of the settlers around them.
In the World
Maksim Gorky
A young man navigates the harsh, often predatory landscape of the Russian working class, seeking a way to transcend his environment. He transforms his observations of human cruelty and struggle into a quiet, enduring resolve to live for something better.
Lud-in-the-Mist
Hope Mirrlees
In a respectable land where the mundane is law, the forbidden taste of fairy fruit triggers a quiet, dangerous awakening. This story explores the thin, trembling veil between a settled society and the wild, untamable unknown.
The Hidden Force: A Story of Modern Java
Louis Couperus
The colonial administration of Java serves as a crucible for personal and societal dissolution, where the veneer of European order is slowly eroded by an ancient, invisible, and unforgiving local power.
Bella Donna: A Novel
Robert Hichens
A manipulative woman seeks escape from her failing marriage and social standing, only to find herself ensnared by the dark, alluring mysteries of a stranger in the Egyptian desert.
My mortal enemy
Willa Cather
A woman looks back on the life of a charismatic runaway who traded status for love, only to find that the most profound battle in her life was fought against the person she cherished most.
Ultima Thule
Mack Reynolds
HOOK A young recruit enters a clandestine agency to hunt a legendary interstellar revolutionary, only to discover the unsettling truth about the organization he has sworn to serve.
Penelope's Experiences in Scotland: Being Extracts from the Commonplace Book of Penelope Hamilton
Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
A trio of American friends traverses the landscape and culture of late 19th-century Scotland, finding their own romantic and personal lives transformed by the country’s rugged charm.
The Wolf's Long Howl
Stanley Waterloo
This collection of stories explores the collision between ancient human instincts and modern civilization, capturing the strange, often turbulent evolution of the human spirit across vast stretches of time.
Donal Grant
George MacDonald
A young man takes a tutoring job at a remote castle, where he uncovers dark family secrets, a hidden chapel, and a love that transforms his life.
Latter-Day Sweethearts
Harrison, Burton, Mrs.
A wealthy socialite flees an uncomfortable domestic shift, embarking on a transatlantic voyage where unexpected connections, old flames, and social maneuverings redraw the boundaries of her future.
The Living Link: A Novel
James De Mille
Imprisoned in her own ancestral estate by a ruthless guardian, a resolute young heiress fights against a web of deceit and a forced marriage to reclaim her freedom and her family's honor.
The Roots of the Mountains: Wherein Is Told Somewhat of the Lives of the Men of Burgdale, Their Friends, Their Neighbours, Their Foemen, and Their Fellows in Arms
William Morris
A quiet valley of peaceful farming folk finds its ancient tranquility shattered when a mysterious threat emerges from the wild-wood, forcing them into a desperate alliance with forgotten, displaced kindred to reclaim their freedom.
Zicci: A Tale
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
An English painter in Naples abandons his mortal love to pursue the terrifying secrets of an immortal Rosicrucian sage.
Status Quo
Mack Reynolds
A government agent uncovers a mysterious movement plotting to disrupt society by sabotaging records and counterfeiting money.
Mabel's Mistake
Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens
Mistaken identities and suppressed passions unravel a wealthy Hudson Valley family as secrets, stolen journals, and hidden parentage drive them toward tragedy.
Not Pretty, but Precious
Unknown
Across these eleven stories, human lives pivot on small misunderstandings, quiet resentments, sudden catastrophes, and the stubborn ghosts—both literal and emotional—that haunt ordinary homes.
Countess Vera
Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.
A wronged heiress returns under a false identity to exact vengeance on the cruel relatives who stole her life and the weak-willed husband who abandoned her.
The Captain's Story
Unknown
A wandering son flees his father's godly authority, suffers terrible maritime disasters, and spends decades believing he is cursed before finding divine grace and unexpected reconciliation.
Children of the lens
E. E. (Edward Elmer) Smith
A intergalactic war spanning millions of years culminates in a clash between ultimate mental powers across multiple dimensions and hidden worlds.
A House of Gentlefolk
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
A weary husband returns from self-imposed exile to a quiet provincial estate, hoping to rebuild a tranquil life, only to find his heart tested by the pure, unyielding devotion of a young woman.
City of Endless Night
Milo Hastings
A hundred years in the future, a subterranean Berlin flourishes under absolute totalitarian control until an infiltrating outsider unravels its chemical secrets from within.