Free summaries
Short Stories — page 5
209 public-domain short stories books, summarised. Page 5 of 5.
The romance of Captain Duffy
H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole
The story follows a rugged, self-made sailor who finds himself the sole companion of a shipwrecked young woman on a remote Pacific island, leading to an unlikely and fleeting romantic bond.
A divided heart, and other stories
Paul Heyse
Two people can inhabit the same house, share the same bed, and yet live on different sides of an unbridgeable emotional chasm.
Comfortable Mrs. Crook, and other sketches
Ruth Lamb
A collection of earnest sketches examining how we treat our neighbors, this book reminds us that true virtue is measured not by grand displays, but by the quiet, daily grace we offer others.
Pretty creatures
William Alexander Gerhardie
In these sketches of desire, vanity, and the fragile art of human connection, the author explores the quiet, often absurd ways we construct versions of one another to suit our own shifting needs.
The Cohansey tea-fight
Lucy Ellen Guernsey
This gentle historical narrative recalls a pivotal moment of colonial resistance through the eyes of a woman reflecting on her youth. It captures the intersection of personal conviction and political upheaval in a quiet New Jersey village.
The curse of gold
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
Out in Piperock, high intentions and flying lead usually collide to prove that enforcing the law is mostly a matter of dodging your own side's bullets.
As holy and enchanted
Kris Neville
This brief, poignant fantasy follows a lonely city mechanic who meets an ethereal woman in a park on a Sunday morning, only to discover that their worlds are fundamentally incompatible.
The hen-punchers of Piperock
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
Two hard-bitten cowpunchers attempt to corner the egg market in a desolate Montana outpost, only to discover that livestock—both feathered and porcine—is far harder to manage than cattle.
By beach and bog-land
Jane Barlow
In the quiet, wind-swept corners of the Irish countryside, small lives collide with the vast, uncaring weight of the sea and the enduring stubbornness of human nature.
In a lifeboat
Jeffery Farnol
Adrift on a sun-blistered sea, two men and a woman face the slow depletion of their water supply and the fraying of their sanity. This tense maritime drama explores the fragile boundary between survival and sacrifice.
The Hypnotic Experiment of Dr. Reeves, and Other Stories
Charlotte Rosalys Jones
The stories in this collection follow the precarious dance of Victorian-era courtship, where social expectations and personal desires often collide. These narratives examine the quiet tragedies and fleeting joys found within the rigid structures of nineteenth-century society.
Those Who Smiled, and Eleven Other Stories
Perceval Gibbon
These twelve stories capture the fractured, often harrowing lives of people caught in the machinery of war, the isolation of the sea, and the quiet desperation of the city. They are portraits of resilience and the cold, unyielding nature of fate.
The boy who couldn't fly
Charles Spain Verral
A teenage boy with a crippled leg builds a secret cardboard cockpit in his hayloft, mastering the art of flight in his mind long before he ever leaves the ground.
The old house, and other stories
Blanche Sellers Ortman
Centuries-old houses, thoroughbred racers, and forgotten attic violins whisper timeless lessons of nature, memory, and spiritual evolution.
Magpie's night-bear
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
A quiet night in a mountain cabin takes a strange turn when a massive, unexpected visitor wanders in and disrupts two prospectors' peace.
The haunts of men
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
Across scarred battlefields, quiet Parisian studios, and silent mountain forests, ordinary lives collide with sudden tragedy, secret shames, and fleeting moments of grace.
Pâkia: 1901
Louis Becke
The aging traveler recounts a life of global wandering, from the icy Southern seas to the ports of Liverpool, finding solace at last in a quiet exchange of stories under the Pacific moon.