Free summaries
Novels — page 9
1,000 public-domain novels books, summarised. Page 9 of 21.
The Emperor of Portugallia
Selma Lagerlöf
Love does not calculate its own loss, but when pushed past the point of endurance, the human mind will invent a crown to cover a broken heart.
The Hero of Hill House
Mabel Hale
When an alcoholic father leaves seven children without care, a fourteen-year-old boy steps up to keep the family together against impossible odds.
Flower of the Dusk
Myrtle Reed
A devotion born in darkness faces the light, where a father’s long-treasured lie, a daughter’s sacrifice, and a sudden medical miracle converge upon a fragile quiet.
My Japanese Wife: A Japanese Idyl
Clive Holland
An English expatriate marries a young Japanese woman in Nagasaki and navigates the subtle, charming, and precarious dynamics of their cross-cultural love before bringing her back to England.
Rose à Charlitte
Marshall Saunders
An American traveler seeks to make amends in coastal Canada, where a beautiful Acadian widow guards her heart behind quiet devotion.
The Alien
Raymond F. Jones
In the icy, silent reaches of space, an ancient jewel hides a half-million-year-old secret capable of conquering death or destroying humanity.
The Speculations of John Steele
Robert Barr
A self-made railroad man battles ruthless trust magnates, corrupt politicians, and high-stakes market manipulation, only to discover that love poses an even greater risk than Wall Street speculation.
Captives of the Flame
Samuel R. Delany
A displaced convict, a kidnapped prince, and a brilliant mathematician collide as an empire lurches toward an senseless war.
The King's Mirror
Anthony Hope
A young monarch discovers that wearing a crown means trading every personal desire—for love, friendship, and self-determination—for the cold, exacting duty of the state.
Anchorite
Randall Garrett
A solitary space-tug captain jests with his imaginary alter ego while performing lethal orbital maneuvers—and inadvertently defends human independence against a smothering Earth bureaucracy.
Gold Elsie
E. (Eugenie) Marlitt
A golden-haired maiden brings warmth to an old Thuringian forest while quietly defying the rigid pride of the local aristocracy.
Jane Sinclair
William Carleton
When an ardent young woman allows an unrestrained passion to consume her mind, the line between devotions of the heart and tragic delusion vanishes.
Up and Down
E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson
A sun-drenched sanctuary in Italy gives way to the grey shadows of wartime England as two friends confront love, mortality, and the enduring pull of the human spirit.
Christine: A Fife Fisher Girl
Amelia E. Barr
The sea serves as both cradle and cold grave in this account of a Fife fishing village, where the daily rhythm of the tides dictates the heartbeat of every soul living between the water and the sky.
Eyes Like the Sea: A Novel
Mór Jókai
A kaleidoscopic memoir-novel, this work traces the turbulent life of a young woman who captivates a writer through decades of revolution, romance, and moral ambiguity. It is a sprawling, vivid portrait of a nation in flux.
Name and Fame: A Novel
Adeline Sergeant
The pursuit of social standing often masks a hollow interior, but true integrity is found only when one stops performing for the world and begins living for others. This narrative examines how the weight of secrets and the pressure of ambition collide, ultimately forcing its characters to choose between the shallow…
The Black Pearl
Woodrow, Wilson, Mrs.
A headstrong dancer finds her identity caught between the magnetic pull of the desert and the unexpected lure of a mountain cabin. She navigates a web of dangerous men and hidden secrets in this turn-of-the-century Western romance.
The Uncrowned King
Harold Bell Wright
HOOK A traveler crosses a desolate landscape to reach the Temple of Truth, where he discovers an allegorical tale about the heavy toll of power and the true nature of kingship.
Annie o' the Banks o' Dee
Gordon Stables
A young doctor is wrongfully accused of murder in a tale that sweeps from the quiet, pine-shaded banks of the Scottish Dee to the perilous, gold-rich islands of the South Pacific.
Conjure wife
Fritz Leiber
The thin, scholarly veil of academic life at Hempnell College conceals a terrifying, centuries-old occult war. When a professor’s wife is targeted by a coven of faculty spouses, the mundane world of tenure and bridge games collapses.
Home Scenes and Heart Studies
Grace Aguilar
This collection of Victorian-era tales explores the quiet dignity of domestic life, the resilience of faith under persecution, and the transformative power of human empathy.
The celestial blueprint
Philip José Farmer
In a world where artificiality masks the human heart, two titans of industry orchestrate a brutal game of shadows, secrets, and mechanical vengeance. This tale explores the dark intersections of power, religious dogma, and the cost of absolute ego.
Code Three
Rick Raphael
This is a story of the North American Continental Thruway Patrol, where the law is enforced by "Continental Commandos" patrolling a vast, high-speed, multi-lane artery that spans the continent and ignores national borders.
From a Swedish homestead
Selma Lagerlöf
This collection of stories weaves together the folklore of the Swedish countryside with the psychological struggles of those trapped by grief, madness, or the weight of the past. It offers a poignant look at how humanity finds its way back from the brink of despair.
The Inevitable
Louis Couperus
The bonds of the past are not easily severed, even when law and distance intervene. This novel explores the psychological shadow cast by a former spouse upon a woman seeking an independent life.
The Whispering Spheres
R. R. (Russell Robert) Winterbotham
A small-town munitions factory becomes the breeding ground for sentient, extraterrestrial energy spheres that view humanity as nothing more than prey for their cruel, experimental destruction.
Ainslee's magazine, Volume 16, No. 3, October, 1905
Various
This collection captures the vibrant, restless spirit of the early twentieth century through a mosaic of fiction, social commentary, and theatrical review.
My Lady Nobody: A Novel
Maarten Maartens
A young woman is thrust into the suffocating legacy of an aristocratic Dutch family, where she must navigate a web of bitter inheritance disputes, hidden scandals, and the heavy burden of duty.
One Day: A sequel to 'Three Weeks'
Unknown
The royal son of a forbidden romance struggles under the weight of his heritage, seeking to reconcile his duty to a throne with the uncontrollable, inherited fire of his parents’ love.
The guests of Hercules
C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson
HOOK A convent-bred innocent arrives at the glittering, treacherous world of Monte Carlo, where she is caught in a web of gambling, dark secrets, and a romance that tests her soul.
The Halo
Hutten zum Stolzenberg, Betsey Riddle, Freifrau von
A young woman finds herself entangled in a forbidden, agonizing attraction to her fiancé’s father, a magnetic yet volatile violinist. This story explores the wreckage left by desire when duty and passion collide.
The Virgins of the Rocks
Gabriele D'Annunzio
A young aristocrat seeks to refine his soul by retreating into a world of pure, ancestral beauty, only to find himself entangled in the tragic decay of a noble family living in isolation.
A Rose of Yesterday
F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
The etching of a knight riding through death and the devil serves as a somber mirror for a woman trapped in a marriage that has long since withered into a life of endurance.
A Trip to Venus: A Novel
John Munro
This Victorian-era scientific romance follows a small group of explorers who abandon the Earth to seek the wonders of the solar system. It is a work of speculative imagination that balances technical obsession with a yearning for a more harmonious, beautiful existence.
Baseball Joe, Home Run King
Lester Chadwick
A talented baseball player navigates the pressures of professional fame and the schemes of envious rivals to secure a world championship and the woman he loves.
Jessamine: A Novel
Marion Harland
This story of love, misunderstanding, and the quiet endurance of the heart follows a young woman navigating the complex emotional landscapes of Victorian domestic life. It is a portrait of resilience in the face of stifling societal expectations.
'Murphy': A Message to Dog Lovers
Ernest Gambier-Parry
The profound, often silent, connection between humanity and the dog serves as a bridge to understanding our own place in the natural order. This reflection explores the depth of that bond and the hope for its endurance.
The Vinegar Saint
Hughes Mearns
The story follows a young woman’s intellectual and emotional maturation under the guidance of a man who views himself as a sacrificial guardian of morality, a self-styled "Vinegar Saint" tasked with holding back chaos. It is a quiet, thoughtful study of the invisible lines between childhood, intellectual…
Ralph 124C 41+: A Romance of the Year 2660
Hugo Gernsback
In the year 2660, a brilliant inventor relies on his mastery of science and high-frequency energy to rescue his beloved from the clutches of a desperate rival.
The first violin: A novel
Jessie Fothergill
An Englishwoman travels to Germany to study music, only to become entangled with a mysterious violinist whose haunted past hides a secret that threatens to define their future.
The Merchants of Venus
A. H. Phelps
HOOK When every scientific method for selecting perfect colonists fails, a cynical personnel director and a clever historian gamble the future of the human race on a desperate, deceptive, and thoroughly human plan.
Star, Bright
Mark Clifton
When his three-year-old daughter begins solving complex topology problems and reading minds, a widowed father faces the terrifying realization that his child is no longer playing by the rules of ordinary human existence.
The Destroying Angel
Louis Joseph Vance
The weight of a secret marriage and a life-altering medical prognosis drives a man toward an uncertain destiny. He soon finds himself caught in an emotional and physical labyrinth, pursued by professional agents and shadowed by the enigmatic woman who is his wife in name alone.
The Pomp of the Lavilettes, Complete
Gilbert Parker
This novel captures a collision between a dying European aristocrat and a secluded French-Canadian community, tracing how a single man’s vanity can unravel the lives of those around him. It is a story of moral awakening, set against the backdrop of the 1837 Rebellions.
The Syndic
C. M. (Cyril M.) Kornbluth
The future of humanity hinges on the fragile stability of a society built on the remnants of a failed state, where the choice between freedom and security is never settled. It is a portrait of a world where organized chaos acts as the ultimate check on tyranny.
Day of the Moron
H. Beam Piper
In a future where civilization rests upon the razor-edge of centralized nuclear power, a single reckless mistake by an unqualified worker can trigger a catastrophe that no amount of technology can contain.
In Friendship's Guise
William Murray Graydon
A young artist’s secret past collides with a high-stakes art theft, unraveling a web of betrayal and hidden family legacies in Victorian London.
The Foolish Lovers
St. John G. (St. John Greer) Ervine
Ambition and romance often obscure the simple truths of home, yet sometimes a long, hard detour is exactly what is required to find one’s way back to the start.