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All free summaries — page 286
34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 286 of 714.
Agnes of Sorrento
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Set against the backdrop of Renaissance Italy, this narrative follows a pious peasant girl whose faith and beauty draw her into the dangerous orbit of a noble cavalier and the shadow of religious upheaval.
Amanda: A Daughter of the Mennonites
Anna Balmer Myers
The story of a young woman finding her own path amidst the quiet traditions of her people, this novel celebrates the persistence of hope and the quiet courage found in everyday life.
Barlasch of the Guard
Henry Seton Merriman
An aging, cynical soldier of Napoleon’s Guard finds his destiny entangled with a quiet Dantzig family, as the disastrous Russian campaign transforms the lives of those left in its wake.
Behind the Scenes in Warring Germany
Edward Lyell Fox
A correspondent secures rare access to the German front lines during the First World War, recording the machinery of state, the realities of trench life, and the perspectives of a nation at total war.
Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820
Sherburne Friend Cook
The early Spanish incursions into California’s Central Valley reveal a landscape of immense, teeming populations and a colonial machine struggling to reconcile its religious mission with the realities of military control.
Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 1 of 3
Henry Hallam
The shifting boundary between the sovereign’s will and the people’s rights defines the struggle for England’s future. This narrative traces the slow, often contentious evolution of a constitution forged in the fires of shifting power.
Dogs of all nations: a complete work, profusely illustrated, bearing on the world's different varieties of the dog, grouped under their several nationalities, with descriptive matter explaining the characteristics and utility of each
Walter Esplin Mason
A comprehensive guide to global canine breeds, this volume documents the physical standards, working purposes, and historical significance of dogs from diverse nations. It serves as an archival snapshot of early twentieth-century breed classification.
Famous pets of famous people
Eleanor Lewis
This collection of anecdotes reveals the surprising, tender, and sometimes tragic lives of animals who shared the homes and history of history’s most prominent figures.
Hand-Loom Weaving: A Manual for School and Home
Mattie Phipps Todd
This manual provides a practical, step-by-step guide to the art of hand-loom weaving, designed to integrate creative manual labor into the education of children and the activities of the home.
Historic Girls: Stories Of Girls Who Have Influenced The History Of Their Times
Elbridge S. (Elbridge Streeter) Brooks
These historical sketches trace the lives of young women who shaped their nations, suggesting that the core of girlhood—brave, impulsive, and tender—remains constant across the centuries.
Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine
Edwin Waugh
This account documents the quiet, harrowing endurance of Lancashire mill workers during the 1861–1864 cotton famine, capturing the dignity of a people pushed to the precipice of starvation by global economic collapse.
Hunter's Marjory
Margaret Bruce Clarke
Marjory is a lonely, imaginative girl living under the guardianship of a remote, secretive uncle in the quiet Scottish countryside. Her path to discovering her own identity and family history is marked by secrets, friendships, and eventual reconciliation.
In a steamer chair, and other shipboard stories
Robert Barr
A collection of vignettes capturing the peculiar, transient intimacy of life on the high seas, where strangers become confidants and the vast ocean acts as a crucible for human emotion.
In the Days of the Guild
Louise Lamprey
The past is a living workshop where the clatter of the loom and the ring of the hammer reveal the true heartbeat of history. These tales bridge the distance between the distant Middle Ages and the hands that built its enduring legacy.
Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 2 (of 3): Queen of Denmark and Norway, and Sister of H. M. George III. of England
Wraxall, Lascelles, Sir
The tragic downfall of a queen and her visionary minister, this historical account chronicles the explosive collapse of a royal court caught between radical reform and the bitter machinery of conspiracy.
Mortmain
Arthur Cheney Train
This collection of stories explores the collision of privilege, conscience, and the unexpected burdens of the past. It offers a glimpse into the vanished world of early 20th-century American life, where personal honor and social standing are often defined by a single, irreversible moment.
Northern Spain
Edgar Thomas Ainger Wigram
This travelogue chronicles a bicycle tour through the rugged, unhurried landscapes of Northern Spain. It captures the charm of a disappearing, pre-industrial world through the eyes of a curious, observant wanderer.
Old Plymouth Trails
Winthrop Packard
The landscape of Plymouth, Massachusetts, is more than a historical site; it is a living, breathing testament to the changing seasons and the enduring spirit of the natural world.
Paul Faber, Surgeon
George MacDonald
This story of a skeptical surgeon and the people of a small town explores whether a life lived for others can lead to a deeper understanding of God.
Pelts and palisades: The story of fur and the rivalry for pelts in early America
Nathaniel C. (Nathaniel Claiborne) Hale
Early colonial history turns on a curious irony: the explorers arrived searching for gold, but they built their survival and their empires on the back of the beaver.
Peter the Great
Jacob Abbott
This biographical account traces the transformative life of the Russian monarch who dragged his nation into the modern era through sheer force of will, unyielding discipline, and a ruthless pursuit of Western advancement.
Philistia
Grant Allen
This story of youthful idealism colliding with the rigid social machinery of Victorian England captures the profound tension between a person’s inner moral compass and the unforgiving demands of the world. It is a quiet, thoughtful study of integrity, poverty, and the quiet sacrifices required to survive.
Rest Harrow: A Comedy of Resolution
Maurice Hewlett
A woman’s quest for autonomy unfolds against the shifting landscapes of high-society London and a solitary, wild Wiltshire valley. This journey tests the strength of independent spirit against the rigid expectations of family and status.
Scientific American, Volume 22, No. 1, January 1, 1870: A Weekly Journal of Practical Information, Art, Science, Mechanics, Chemistry, and Manufactures
Various
This weekly journal captures the restless ingenuity and industrial fervor of post-Civil War America, serving as both a technical record and a window into the era's optimistic belief in mechanical progress.
Six Women
Victoria Cross
This collection of six linked vignettes captures the feverish intensity of life in the East through the eyes of men and women bound by desire, duty, and tragic miscalculation. It is a work of atmospheric, late-Victorian romanticism that explores the volatile intersections of cultural collision and private obsession.
Some Irish Yesterdays
E. Oe. (Edith Oenone) Somerville
The Irish landscape and its inhabitants are captured here with a sharp, affectionate eye, balancing the humorous chaos of daily life against the enduring, stony silence of a country caught between eras.
Susy, a Story of the Plains
Bret Harte
This tale of California’s shifting landscapes and volatile hearts captures the restless spirit of a society in transition, where old Spanish traditions collide with the raw ambition of new settlers. It is a story of how easily a life—and a fortune—can be unmade by a single, violent stroke of fate.
Tales of Mean Streets
Arthur Morrison
The streets of London’s East End are not paved with gold, but with the grit of survival. These stark, unsparing sketches pull back the curtain on a world where poverty is a cage and dignity is a luxury.
Ten minute stories
Algernon Blackwood
These brief, atmospheric sketches capture the fragile boundary between the mundane world and the encroaching unknown, where a single moment can pull the veil back on hidden, unsettling truths.
The Age of Dryden
Richard Garnett
This literary survey examines the vibrant, turbulent decades following the 1660 Restoration. It maps a pivotal era of transformation in English letters, defined by the rise of modern prose and the dominance of John Dryden.
The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War
Arthur Machen
A single short story, spun from imagination, transforms into a national myth that stubbornly refuses to die despite the author’s persistent protests that it is pure, unvarnished fiction.
The Art of Making Whiskey: So As to Obtain a Better, Purer, Cheaper and Greater Quantity of Spirit, From a Given Quantity of Grain. Also, the Art of Converting It into Gin, after the Process of the Holland Distillers
Anthony Boucherie
A practical, scientific guide to distilling spirits, this work serves as an early nineteenth-century manual for refining the production of whiskey and gin through the application of chemistry and improved engineering.
The Brimming Cup
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The choice between a life of refined, rootless exploration and the deep, demanding embrace of a settled home is a struggle fought in the quiet corners of the heart. To read these pages is to watch a woman weigh the world against the weight of her own family.
The butterfly guide
W. J. (William Jacob) Holland
A pocket-sized companion for the budding naturalist, this manual provides a clear, reliable pathway to identifying the butterflies of North America. It serves as an accessible bridge between casual observation and scientific study.
The Chain of Life in Geological Time: A Sketch of the Origin and Succession of Animals and Plants
Dawson, John William, Sir
This geological chronicle charts the emergence of life on Earth, offering a systematic tour through the fossil record to explore how plants and animals have evolved and succeeded one another over deep time.
The Children of the New Forest
Frederick Marryat
A story of survival and honor in the shadow of the English Civil War, this tale follows four orphaned siblings who find refuge in the rugged wilds of the New Forest.
The Dealings of Captain Sharkey, and Other Tales of Pirates
Arthur Conan Doyle
This collection of maritime adventures captures the ruthless spirit of piracy and the chilling isolation of the high seas through the exploits of a legendary, cold-blooded buccaneer.
The Fatal Dowry
Philip Massinger
A tragic collision of honor and obsession, this play charts the ruin of a young man caught between his duty to a benefactor and the betrayal of his marriage. It is a work of dark, forensic intensity, where the courtroom serves as both stage and final judgment.
The Golliwog News
Fay Inchfawn
An imaginative world of toys comes alive, revealing the secret, bustling society hidden within the nursery and beyond. This whimsical chronicle follows the adventures of a Golliwog, his human companions, and a colorful cast of eccentric creatures.
The Great Days of the Garden District, and the Old City of Lafayette
Martha Ann Brett Samuel
This work chronicles the architectural evolution and social history of New Orleans' Garden District, tracing its origins from the short-lived, independent City of Lafayette into a celebrated enclave of antebellum grandeur.
The Lady of Lynn
Walter Besant
A young woman of immense, hidden fortune becomes the target of a nobleman’s cold-blooded conspiracy in this atmospheric tale of 18th-century deception. The narrative unfolds through the eyes of a faithful sailor, Jack Pentecrosse, who watches as his childhood friend, the resilient "Lady of Lynn," is courted and…
The Land of Footprints
Stewart Edward White
The wilderness of East Africa, as seen through the sharp, practical eyes of a seasoned hunter, reveals a landscape where survival depends on steady nerves and mutual respect. This account chronicles the rhythmic, often dangerous life of a safari expedition, stripping away the romantic veneer of colonial travel to…
The Lonely Ones
Edward W. Ludwig
The line between noble dreams and madness is thin, and loneliness can push men past it. This story follows six men who cross that line in their desperate search for a meaningful place in the universe.
The Old Man of the Mountain
Herbert Strang
A trio of British adventurers infiltrates a hidden, high-altitude sanctuary in the Himalayas, where a mysterious despot rules through fear, hypnotic technology, and the forced labor of enslaved captives.
The Paradise Mystery
J. S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher
The serene, ancient beauty of a cathedral town masks a dark web of secrets, where the discovery of a stranger’s body ignites a desperate scramble for hidden truths.
The Port of Adventure
C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson
Hook An elegant woman fleeing a shadowed past meets a rugged, open-hearted man in the vast, untamed beauty of California, where the promise of a new life waits behind the Golden Gate.
The Pride of Palomar
Peter B. (Peter Bernard) Kyne
A returning veteran fights to reclaim his ancestral California ranch from an ambitious intruder, only to find his own heart besieged by his enemy’s daughter.
The Purple Fern
Fergus Hume
A determined woman investigates the brutal murder of her guardian, fighting to clear her brother’s name from the shadow of a mysterious, lethal secret society.