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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 293 of 714.
The Count of Narbonne: A Tragedy, in Five Acts
Horace Walpole
The tragic ruin of a house built on murder unfolds in this intense drama, where long-buried secrets and a father’s desperate ambition collide with the claims of a rightful heir. It is a cautionary tale of how guilt, when left to fester, eventually dismantles even the most secure of dynasties.
The Devil's Elixir, Vol. 1 (of 2)
E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) Hoffmann
A young monk consumes a forbidden elixir, unleashing a dark, supernatural inheritance that fractures his identity and pulls him into a vortex of obsession, madness, and wandering guilt.
The Flight of the Shadow
George MacDonald
It is a harrowing, meditative exploration of the soul’s capacity for both dark obsession and redemption. This narrative examines the devastating toll of hidden lives and the restorative power of love.
The Great Salt Lake Trail
Henry Inman
This work documents the rugged evolution of the American West, blending historical analysis with the firsthand frontier experiences of a veteran army officer and a legendary scout.
The Headsman
James Fenimore Cooper
A young woman’s love for a man of "inferior" birth and a prince’s search for a lost son converge in the dangerous, craggy heights of the Swiss Alps.
The humour of Germany
Unknown
German wit is a vast, eccentric landscape where the surreal meets the domestic, and where a philosopher’s sneeze is treated with the same gravity as a king’s decree. It is a collection of curiosities that finds the absurd in the everyday.
The humour of Spain
Unknown
A vast, centuries-spanning collection of wit, this anthology gathers the sharpest voices of the Iberian Peninsula to reveal how a people found laughter in the face of pride, poverty, and the absurd.
The Island Pharisees
John Galsworthy
A journey toward truth often begins with a single, uncomfortable question that breaks the spell of a comfortable life.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 4: Acadia and Quebec, 1616-1629
Unknown
These chronicles capture the fragile beginnings of New France, where missionary zeal collided with the brutal realities of colonial struggle and the vast, unyielding wilderness.
The jute industry
Thomas Woodhouse
The jute industry represents the complete mechanical and agricultural journey of one of the world’s most essential fibers, detailing how a humble annual plant becomes the ubiquitous cloth of global commerce.
The Land of The Blessed Virgin
W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham
This evocative travelogue captures the fading grandeur and vibrant spirit of Andalusia, moving through sun-drenched cities, desolate mountains, and the lives of those caught between ancient tradition and modern decay.
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 06: Nero
Suetonius
The final scion of the Domitii, an emperor who traded his crown for the stage and his dignity for the stage-light, descends into a madness that would eventually consume the city he claimed to own.
The love-affairs of the Condés (1530-1740)
H. Noel (Hugh Noel) Williams
A sweeping chronicle of the Bourbon-Condé dynasty, this account traces two centuries of political intrigue, battlefield valor, and the volatile romantic entanglements that shaped the French monarchy.
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Sabha Parva
Kisari Mohan Ganguli
The second book of the great Indian epic presents a harrowing transformation of glory into ruin, charting the thin line between a righteous kingdom and a catastrophic fall. It is a study of hubris, the seduction of power, and the inescapable weight of one’s own character.
The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale Founded Upon the Mysteries of Electricity
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
A young boy accidentally summons a powerful supernatural force of electricity, gaining godlike tools that thrust him into a whirlwind of global adventure and moral consequence.
The Modern American Pistol and Revolver
Arthur Corbin Gould
The American handgun began as a tool of necessity, but in these pages, it is transformed into an instrument of precision. This volume documents the transition of the pistol and revolver from mere defensive weapons to the primary implements of a burgeoning national sport.
The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow
Anna Katharine Green
A young woman is struck down by an arrow in a crowded museum, leaving no trace of her killer. An elderly detective must solve the impossible crime while the true culprit hides in plain sight.
The Old Adam: A Story of Adventure
Arnold Bennett
The sudden, restless urge of a provincial businessman to conquer the London stage leads him into a labyrinth of celebrity, high-stakes finance, and the intoxicating pursuit of a woman who represents everything his quiet life lacks. This is a story of the "old Adam"—the irrepressible, impulsive, and often absurd…
The Plays of W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
These four dramas explore the precarious line between respectability and ruin, tracing the fates of men who cultivate double lives behind masks of charm or piety.
The Quiver, 11/1899
Anonymous
This multifaceted periodical captures the spirit of late Victorian moral earnestness, blending missionary zeal, historical reflection, and domestic fiction into a singular, pious cultural tapestry.
The Red City: A Novel of the Second Administration of President Washington
S. Weir (Silas Weir) Mitchell
In a city gripped by revolutionary fervor and the chilling threat of yellow fever, an exiled French nobleman seeks refuge, love, and a new identity within the quiet, Quaker-influenced society of Washington’s America.
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge) Pinches
This study offers an accessible, scholarly survey of the ancient Mesopotamian spiritual landscape, tracing the evolution of its pantheon, complex creation myths, and the enduring influence of these beliefs on subsequent civilizations.
The River Motor Boat Boys on the Yukon: The Lost Mine of Rainbow Bend
Harry Gordon
Four adventurous boys pilot their sleek motor boat into the rugged heart of the Alaskan wilderness, seeking hidden gold and facing dangerous men in a race against the encroaching Arctic winter.
The Street of Seven Stars
Mary Roberts Rinehart
HOOK In the shadow of a historic Viennese hunting lodge, a struggling American violinist and a lonely medical student navigate the harsh, beautiful landscape of poverty and budding love.
The Tinker's Wedding
J. M. (John Millington) Synge
Humor is a dangerous thing to lose, for in its absence, the mind grows morbid and the world turns bitter. This play serves as a vibrant reminder that laughter is a necessary, nourishing force for the human imagination.
The World War and What was Behind It
Louis Paul Bénézet
This primer offers a candid, accessible examination of the complex historical tensions that ignited the First World War, written for students and citizens during the heat of the conflict.
Under the Deodars
Rudyard Kipling
These stories capture the claustrophobic, often stifling atmosphere of British life in colonial India, where social standing and professional reputation are precarious. They reveal the hidden tensions of a society built on tradition, rigid hierarchy, and profound, unbridgeable cultural divides.
Under Wolfe's Flag
Rowland Walker
Two restless boys escape their provincial village for the high seas, eventually finding themselves entangled in the brutal frontier conflicts of the Seven Years' War in North America.
Vocational Guidance for Girls
Marguerite Dickson
Vocational guidance is framed here as a vital, necessary bridge between a girl’s formal schooling and her ultimate, inevitable role as a homemaker. It argues that modern life requires domestic labor to be elevated through scientific study.
While I Remember
Stephen McKenna
This memoir captures the transition of a generation moving from the complacent, structured security of late-Victorian England into the harrowing, transformative upheaval of the Great War and its disillusioning aftermath.
Women in English Life from Mediæval to Modern Times, Vol. I
Georgiana Hill
This historical survey traces the evolving roles of English women from the Saxon era through the eighteenth century, examining how social, religious, and political forces shaped their domestic and public lives.
Youth and Life
Randolph Silliman Bourne
The urgent, restless energy of early adulthood finds its most articulate voice in this collection of essays. It captures the friction between a vibrant younger generation and the rigid, conventional world they inherit.
A Little Candy Book for a Little Girl
Waterman, Amy Harlow (Lane), Mrs.
A young girl learns the art of confectionery, turning her home kitchen into a laboratory of sugar, cream, and nuts. This instructional guide celebrates the simple, timeless joy of making sweets from scratch.
A Lowden Sabbath Morn
Robert Louis Stevenson
The ringing of church bells across the Lowlands marks the beginning of a sacred ritual, drawing a rural community from their homes toward the meeting house. This evocative poem captures the sights, sounds, and gentle human rhythms of a traditional Scottish Sabbath morning.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
In a forest outside Athens, four runaway lovers and a troupe of amateur actors find their fates woven into the capricious, dreamlike quarrels of the Fairy King and Queen.
A Start in Life
Honoré de Balzac
This is a story of a young man’s painful apprenticeship to life, where a series of thoughtless errors and youthful vanities collide with the unforgiving realities of social class and professional integrity. It follows the trajectory of a naive clerk as he navigates the precarious social landscape of 1820s France.
A three-fold promise
Marian Isabel Hurrell
A young boy struggles to uphold his mother’s final requests while trapped under the cold, rigid authority of a stern uncle. This story follows his journey from lonely obedience to a life-changing reunion.
"About My Father's Business": Work Amidst the Sick, the Sad, and the Sorrowing
Thomas Archer
Seeking the face of God in the faces of the suffering, this collection of essays documents the quiet, often heroic labor of those who dedicated their lives to the destitute of Victorian London. It serves as a somber yet hopeful meditation on the nature of true charity.
Abraham Lincoln
William Eleroy Curtis
From a rough-hewn frontier cabin to the center of the American storm, this chronicle follows the rise of a singular figure who guided a fractured nation through its darkest trial with steady, melancholy resolve.
Amphitryon
Molière
The gods are jealous, but they are also profoundly petty, as this sharp comedy of mistaken identity reveals the chaos that ensues when a deity decides to assume the life and shape of a mortal man.
An Old Town By the Sea
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
This portrait of a fading colonial port captures the lingering ghosts of New England history through the eyes of a writer who cherished its quiet, weathered streets.
At the Foot of the Rainbow
Gene Stratton-Porter
The promise of a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow is a myth, but for two men in the Indiana river bottoms, the true treasure lies in the quiet, hard-won labor of a life shared.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
Various
A collection of nineteenth-century intellectual discourse, these pages capture the shifting currents of British life, from the gravity of the courtroom and the hearth to the feverish pulse of international politics and colonial reform.
Brigands of the Moon
Ray Cummings
HOOK A high-stakes interplanetary heist unfolds aboard a luxury space-liner, where a navigator and his comrades must outwit ruthless lunar pirates to protect a priceless cargo of rare ore.
Corporal Cameron of the North West Mounted Police: A Tale of the Macleod Trail
Ralph Connor
A disgraced Scottish athlete seeks redemption in the rugged wilds of the Canadian frontier, finding his true character while serving in the North West Mounted Police.
Cousin Phillis
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
A quiet life of scholarship and labor is upended when a young woman’s heart is captured—and then seemingly discarded—by an ambitious newcomer.
Creed and Deed: A Series of Discourses
Felix Adler
A call for ethical action over empty dogma, this collection of lectures argues that the true measure of humanity lies not in the creeds we profess, but in the deeds we perform.
Curiosities of Olden Times
S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
This collection of historical miscellany invites readers into the dusty, forgotten corners of the past, where the line between solemn tradition and utter absurdity frequently dissolves. It serves as a cabinet of curiosities, documenting the strange habits, beliefs, and legal eccentricities that shaped earlier…