Free summaries
Adventure — page 14
4,189 public-domain adventure books, summarised. Page 14 of 88.
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
A trapped wife slips into a feather suit and vanishes into the sky, leaving her mortal husband to wander the earth's end in search of her.
The Prairie
James Fenimore Cooper
An aging frontiersman flees the advance of eastern civilization, seeking final solace across the Mississippi only to find the vast prairies brimming with rival tribes, desperate squatters, and lawless conflict.
The Smoky God
Willis George Emerson
A dying Norse sailor reveals the terrifying polar voyage that carried him into a hollow world beneath our own, where giant men live for centuries under a glowing subterranean sun.
The Companions of Jehu
Alexandre Dumas
Men mask their faces to rob government coaches for the Royalist cause, while a suicidal French officer throws himself into every battle, desperate for a bullet that will not come.
The Argonauts of California: being the reminiscenses of scenes and incidents that occurred in California in the early mining days
Charles Warren Haskins
A snowbound veteran sits indoors during an Idaho winter and sets down his recollections of the California Gold Rush, creating both a raucous memoir and a massive registry of the thousands who dared to venture West.
The Young Alaskans in the Rockies
Emerson Hough
Three young companions and their guides traverse the wild Canadian Rockies by trail and river, measuring their endurance against raw wilderness, treacherous rapids, and big game as they forge a path across the continental divide.
"Captains Courageous": A Story of the Grand Banks
Rudyard Kipling
A spoiled millionaire’s son falls off an ocean liner and is saved by working cod fishermen who force him to earn his keep.
Glinda of Oz: In Which Are Related the Exciting Experiences of Princess Ozma of Oz, and Dorothy, in Their Hazardous Journey to the Home of the Flatheads, and to the Magic Isle of the Skeezers, and How They Were Rescued from Dire Peril by the Sorcery of Glinda the Good
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
A isolated war between magic-wielding mountain dwellers and submerged islanders threatens the peace of Oz, forcing its ruler into a trap that only a grand rescue mission can undo.
In Africa: Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country
John T. (John Tinney) McCutcheon
The vast African plateau offers a rare kind of freedom, where wild game grazes to the horizon and daily life narrows to the trail, the campfire, and the open sky.
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers
Beatrix Potter
This is a classic tale of domestic peril, where a mischievous kitten’s attempt to avoid chores leads him into the clutches of a pair of notorious, culinary-minded rodents. It is a cautionary story of curiosity meeting catastrophe.
The Kipling Reader: Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
A mongoose battles cobras in a sun-baked garden, an engineer fights famine with herds of goats, and an exiled mail runner scales Himalayan cliffs beneath an overwhelming empire.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
Finding a human baby abandoned at the edge of an enchanted forest, immortal woodsmen and nymphs raise the child as one of their own, setting in motion a lifelong quest to bring delight to mortal youth.
Robin Hood
J. Walker (Joseph Walker) McSpadden
A bowman outlawed by a tyrant's decree builds a sanctuary of outcasts, outwitting corrupt prelates and cruel sheriffs beneath the ancient boughs of Sherwood Forest.
The Magic of Oz
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
An ambitious boy steals a magical word, joining forces with an exiled tyrant to overthrow a peaceful fairy kingdom. Meanwhile, two loyal travelers set out across dangerous forests and enchanted waters to find a wondrous birthday gift for their beloved ruler.
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
An earthquake swallows a farm boy and a girl into a subterranean world, where they must navigate strange realms to find their way back to the surface. It is a journey defined by wonder, precarious escapes, and the reassuring presence of a familiar friend.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 31 to 35
Mark Twain
HOOK A young boy grapples with his conscience, choosing his own moral compass over the laws of his society to save a friend from the chains of slavery.
The Man of the Forest
Zane Grey
A lone woodsman retreats into the Arizona wilderness to escape the corruption of civilization, only to have his solitude shattered when he rescues two women from a desperate, lawless conspiracy.
Ayesha, the Return of She
H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
A scholar and his ward journey into the uncharted mountains of Central Asia, seeking the reincarnation of an immortal queen who once defied the gods for love.
Typee
Herman Melville
A sailor deserts his whaling ship for the unknown, only to find himself a privileged prisoner in a valley where paradise masks a haunting uncertainty.
The Lost Princess of Oz
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
When the beloved Ruler of Oz vanishes without a trace, a ragtag band of friends must overcome their own limitations to rescue her from a wicked magician’s grasp.
Hunting with the Bow & Arrow
Saxton T. (Saxton Temple) Pope
The call of the woods and the ancient, silent power of the bow beckon the modern reader to trade the mechanical roar of the firearm for a more primal, disciplined connection to the wild.
The Mucker
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Billy Byrne is a Chicago street thug whose brutal journey through a mutiny at sea and revolution in Mexico forces a radical transformation of his own character. He is a man who begins by hating all authority and ends by discovering that he is capable of honor, loyalty, and even chivalry.
White Shadows in the South Seas
Frederick O'Brien
An evocative journey into the heart of the Marquesas, this narrative captures the fading light of a vanishing culture through the eyes of an observant, appreciative wanderer.
The Pirates of Panama
A. O. (Alexandre Olivier) Exquemelin
This account of the seventeenth-century buccaneers is a raw, unflinching report from the front lines of the Spanish Main, detailing the brutal logic and violent appetites of the men who terrorized colonial outposts. It serves as both a primary historical document and a stark exploration of human greed pushed to its…
The Story of the Amulet
E. (Edith) Nesbit
The power to cross the boundaries of time and space rests in the hands of four children, but they soon discover that changing history is far more complicated than simply wishing it so.
The cruise of the Snark
Jack London
HOOK Driven by the desire to escape the mundane, an author and his wife set sail to circumnavigate the globe in a small boat of their own making.
Sail Ho! A Boy at Sea
George Manville Fenn
A young sailor faces his first true test when a treacherous mutiny turns a routine voyage into a desperate struggle for survival. High seas and human malice collide in this classic tale of grit and redemption.
The Second Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling
To witness the wild is to know the weight of a Law that governs all who breathe, from the smallest creature to the master of the hunt.
The buccaneers and marooners of America
Daniel Defoe
Adventures are to the adventurous. This collection gathers the stark, often brutal chronicles of the seventeenth-century freebooters who haunted the Spanish Main, leaving behind a legacy of iron-fisted rule and lawless exploration.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose
Jessie L. (Jessie Laidlay) Weston
A single challenge at Camelot ignites a perilous journey where honor meets the frailty of the human heart. This prose retelling transforms a dense, medieval alliterative poem into a clear and accessible Arthurian classic.
The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard
Arthur Conan Doyle
HOOK A boastful, charming hussar recounts his wild, improbable escapes during the Napoleonic Wars, serving as the self-appointed centerpiece of France’s legendary history.
Jock of the Bushveld
Percy Fitzpatrick
A legendary dog of the South African wilderness earns his place in history through fierce loyalty and uncanny courage. His life remains an enduring testament to the bond between man and animal.
Life of Frederick Courtenay Selous, D.S.O., Capt. 25th Royal Fusiliers
John Guille Millais
A relentless explorer of the African veldt, a celebrated hunter, and an aging soldier, this narrative captures the singular, adventurous spirit of a man defined by the wild.
Tarzan the Untamed
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Driven by the false belief that his wife has been murdered, Tarzan wages a solitary, vengeful war against German forces in Africa until a shocking discovery changes everything.
The Monster Men
Edgar Rice Burroughs
A man is created in a lab, possessing a human soul but burdened by a monstrous origin. He must survive a savage wilderness to win the heart of the woman he loves.
The Wrecker
Robert Louis Stevenson
HOOK A whirlwind tale of financial ruin, Pacific shipwrecks, and the desperate, morally fraying pursuit of a phantom fortune. It is a sprawling, globe-trotting mystery that tests the limits of friendship and the integrity of a man’s soul.
Field and Forest
Oliver Optic
The American frontier is a place of hard labor, hidden dangers, and the potential for a young man’s moral and intellectual growth. Through the eyes of a self-taught, industrious youth, the vast Missouri wilderness becomes a classroom for character, faith, and the complexities of human relationships.
Two Little Savages: Being the adventures of two boys who lived as Indians and what they learned
Ernest Thompson Seton
Two boys trade the constraints of turn-of-the-century farm life for the freedom of the wilderness, mastering the arts of tracking, archery, and self-reliance to forge a life as "savages" in the woods.
The Lost Prince
Frances Hodgson Burnett
A story of two boys traversing a continent to restore a fallen kingdom, this narrative explores the power of legacy and the quiet, steady courage required to change the world. It centers on the secret mission of a young exile and his unlikely companion, a disabled street urchin, as they carry a message that could…
With Trapper Jim in the North Woods
Lawrence J. Leslie
A group of adventurous boys ventures into the North Woods to live alongside an experienced trapper, discovering that the wilderness holds both dangerous wildlife and valuable life lessons.
A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future
John Jacob Astor
Science can reshape the world, and perhaps the heavens themselves, if humanity only possesses the courage to leave the Earth behind. This vision of a technological future explores the boundary between mortal ambition and the eternal spirit.
Sir Nigel
Arthur Conan Doyle
A young squire of fading fortune seeks to win honor and knighthood on the battlefields of France, driven by an unwavering, chivalric code that transcends the practical realities of his age.
A Story of the Golden Age
James Baldwin
Before the great conflict at Troy begins, a rich tapestry of mythic heroes, tragic choices, and divine encounters shapes the world of ancient Hellas.
Great Sea Stories
Unknown
Storms sweep over high seas, mutineers seize control, and men face the vast expanse in search of gold and survival.
The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels: Given to the New York Public Library By Dr. Frank P. O'Brien
New York Public Library
An impressive collection of cheap pioneer fiction records the wild imagination and cultural memory of nineteenth-century popular reading in America.
The Knights of the Round Table: Stories of King Arthur and the Holy Grail
William Henry Frost
A travel companion retells the legends of King Arthur directly to a young companion while exploring the historical, quiet landscapes of modern England.
Under the Rebel's Reign
Charles Neufeld
An adventurous young German ventures into nineteenth-century Egypt, where he finds himself trapped between imperial military campaigns, local uprisings, and personal rivalries.
Hidden Water
Dane Coolidge
When the Arizona rain breaks over Bender, it flushes out cattlemen, sheepmen, and adrift idealists, all looking for shelter or a second chance.