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All free summaries — page 458
34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 458 of 714.
Flames
Robert Hichens
A refined young idealist, eager to test his soul beyond the limits of mere intellect, agrees to a series of dark sittings that permanently exchange his spirit for a dead man’s malignity.
Flying for France: With the American Escadrille at Verdun
James R. (James Rogers) McConnell
They fly light Nieuports into cloud-choked European skies, hunting German reconnaissance planes while shells burst around them in silence.
Food for the traveler
Dora C. C. L. (Dora Cathrine Cristine Liebel) Roper
A practical guide to dietary balance, this treatise blends osteopathic theory and custom menus to help readers navigate modern eating without sacrificing health.
Footprints on the Sea-Shore (From "Twice Told Tales")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A day spent walking along an isolated New England coastline offers a meditative retreat into the quiet mysteries of nature, human memory, and the self.
Freaks of Fortune
Oliver Optic
A young skipper must navigate local malice, stolen gold, and a high-seas kidnapping to protect his family and clear his name.
Friends in Need: Ship's Company, Part 2
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
Three London dock-loafers scheme to fake one man's drownings to claim a charitable purse, only to discover that the intended mark holds all the winning cards.
From the Valley of the Missing
Grace Miller White
A stolen toddler grows up as a boyish squatter along the canal banks, until a stolen pig brings her face-to-face with the wealthy family that unknowingly holds the key to her past.
Froth: A Novel
Armando Palacio Valdés
Beneath the polished veneer of Madrid’s high society lies a hollow world of posturing, vanity, and moral rot.
Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-catcher After 25 Years' Experience
Ike Matthews
A practical Victorian rat-catcher exposes the hidden patterns of urban vermin, delivering shrewd advice on nets, ferrets, and human nature.
Gaudenzia, Pride of the Palio
Marguerite Henry
A country boy's unbreakable bond with a nervous, half-bred mare transforms them both into unlikely legends on the treacherous cobblestones of Siena's most famous horse race.
Green Spring Farm, Fairfax County, Virginia
Ross De Witt Netherton
A quiet piece of land in Fairfax County becomes a lens through which two centuries of American transition, shifting agriculture, and suburban sprawl unfold.
Gypsy Flight: A Mystery Story for Girls
Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell
A stolen bag on a transcontinental flight plunges an air stewardess and her friends into an industrial espionage plot threatening a peaceful town.
Hilda: A Story of Calcutta
Sara Jeannette Duncan
In the vibrant, shifting atmosphere of late nineteenth-century Calcutta, an ambitious actress, a devoted street-preacher, and a high-society maiden navigate a web of spiritual longing, social expectation, and conflicting romantic desires.
Hira Singh
Talbot Mundy
An Indian cavalry unit marches across two continents, outwitting two empires to fight their way back home.
His big opportunity
Amy Le Feuvre
Driven by a restless longing to do something heroic, a delicate, impetuous boy discovers that the truest courage lies in patience, self-sacrifice, and quiet acts of faith.
History of Chemistry, Volume 2 (of 2): From 1850 to 1910
T. E. (Thomas Edward) Thorpe
A comprehensive history of chemistry's evolution from 1850 to 1910, detailing key discoveries, figures, and theories that shaped the field.
History of the Late Polish Revolution and the Events of the Campaign
Joseph Hordynski
An exiled Polish officer gives a direct eyewitness account of the 1830 November Uprising against Russian rule, dissecting how initial victories were derailed by timid leadership.
History of the Transformer
Friedrich Uppenborn
Before electric illumination could power entire cities, inventors had to solve a fundamental puzzle: how to transmit energy across vast distances without losing power or burning out individual lamps.
Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 1 of 6, slice 7 of 9. England, early history
Raphael Holinshed
An ambitious chronicle traces the fragmentation and unification of early England, where pious kings, warring factions, and invading Danes fight for the island's future.
Index Expurgatorius Anglicanus
W. H. (William Henry) Hart
A record of condemned words reveals the boundary lines where English authority once crushed dangerous ideas, punished print, and enforced conformity.
It Pays to Smile
Nina Wilcox Putnam
A Boston chaperon of flawless lineage discovers that life outside Beacon Hill is a wild, hilarious game of high-stakes art, Western nerve, and unpredictable romance.
Jack Mason, the Old Sailor
Francis C. (Francis Channing) Woodworth
A pious old sailor recounts his travels across the globe, mixing thrilling sea stories of arctic icebergs and giant whales with gentle moral lessons for young listeners.
John Marvel, Assistant
Thomas Nelson Page
An arrogant young lawyer loses his fortune and position, only to find his life transformed among the urban poor by an idealist, a courageous minister, and the woman he loves.
Life of Rear Admiral John Randolph Tucker
James Henry Rochelle
Driven by duty across changing flags, an American naval officer journeys from midshipman drills to Confederate ironclad battles, ultimately charting the unknown, turbulent reaches of the upper Amazon.
Lippincott's Magazine, December, 1885
Various
An autumn day on a Virginia tobacco farm, a stroll through a Belgian schoolyard in the ghost-footsteps of Charlotte Brontë, and a high-stakes romance on a river ferry open a window into the varied reading life of late Victorian America.
Little Maid Marian
Amy Ella Blanchard
A lonely girl raised by austere grandparents discovers how warmth, simple play, and steadfast faith can quietly open a closed family circle to joy.
Lord of a Thousand Suns
Poul Anderson
A million-year-old warlord's ghost reawakens inside a young officer's mind, turning one human skull into a battlefield for the fate of empires.
Madam: A Novel
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
A mother's devotion and a family's buried secrets collide when a tyrant's bitter legacy forces a young woman to choose between her inheritance and the truth.
McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, September 1908, No. 5
Various
Behind the polished facades of international diplomacy, political campaigns, and quiet personal lives lies a relentless struggle for authority, identity, and moral compromise.
Memories (volume 2 of 2)
Redesdale, Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, Baron
Diplomatic missions across the world reveal how power shifts, empires pivot, and historical figures behave when unobserved by their publics.
Miss Minerva and William Green Hill
Frances Boyd Calhoun
A small-town boy arrives at his stern aunt's door, bringing southern plantation habits, colorful profanity, and an unquenchable instinct for mischief that upends her quiet world.
Modern Painting
George Moore
The line separating vibrant artistic truth from cold academic routine is thin, easily crossed, and fiercely defended.
Musketry (.303 and .22 cartridges): Elementary training, visual training, judging distance, fire discipline, range practices, field practices
Unknown
Mastering the service rifle requires a precise understanding of physics, rigorous discipline, and a shared language that transforms individual marksmen into a cohesive unit.
My Disillusionment in Russia
Emma Goldman
A firsthand account of the Russian Revolution's promise and betrayal, by an American anarchist who lived through it.
Northern Nut Growers Association, report of the proceedings at the eighth annual meeting: Stamford, Connecticut, September 5 and 6, 1917
Unknown
A dedicated band of early twentieth-century orchardists, scientists, and tree enthusiasts gather in Connecticut to turn native and imported nut trees into a sustainable, highly productive American industry.
O. Henry memorial award prize stories of 1923
Unknown
Across the expanse of early twentieth-century America, ordinary men and women reach for connection, dignity, and escape from the quiet desperation of their daily lives.
Old times
John Ashton
A meticulous assembly of newspaper extracts captures late-eighteenth-century English life through its everyday gossip, street crimes, political anxieties, and fleeting fashions.
Our Little Finnish Cousin
Clara Vostrovsky Winlow
Two children walk through the quiet pine forests and frozen waterways of Finland, discovering how their nation's ancient songs, deep snows, and daily routines shape a resilient way of life.
Outwitting the Hun: My Escape from a German Prison Camp
Pat O'Brien
Falling from the sky into enemy territory is only the beginning of a extraordinary, desperate journey toward home.
Philippian Studies: Lessons in Faith and Love from St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians
H. C. G. (Handley Carr Glyn) Moule
A captive apostle in Rome transforms a thank-you note to a tiny Macedonian church into an unshakeable manual for spiritual resilience, personal unity, and quiet joy.
Political Recollections: 1840 to 1872
George Washington Julian
A fierce, thirty-year battle for the nation's moral sanity unfolds through the memory of a leader who stood in the center of the storm.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-05-05
Various
Post-war anxiety and the lingering weight of global conflict meet the sharp edge of British irony in this single week of satirical observations.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher and seer
Amos Bronson Alcott
A quiet intimacy suffuses this homage, capturing the delicate line where deep personal affection touches philosophical reverence.
Roy Blakeley, Pathfinder
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
A energetic scout leader leads his troop off the beaten path, where stray exotic beasts, mysterious circus sideshows, and forest fires turn a simple trek home into an unpredictable adventure.
Salvage in Space
Jack Williamson
Alone in the deep silence of the meteor belt, a weary space miner nets a drifting, pitch-black derelict rocket-flier and unwittingly climbs aboard a vessel haunted by invisible death.
Sanitary Statistics of Native Colonial Schools and Hospitals
Florence Nightingale
Statisticians often collect volumes of data without ever asking what the numbers are meant to save; this treatise insists that counting the sick is useless unless it halts their dying.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 1082, September 26, 1896
Various
Mechanical innovation, physical bravery, raw industrial output, and rigorous scientific measurement converge in a single snapshot of late nineteenth-century technical ambition.
Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy 1738-1914
Unknown
Across nearly two centuries of parliamentary debate, British statesmen argue over the duties of an imperial power, balancing national interest against international law.