Free summaries
Adventure — page 28
4,189 public-domain adventure books, summarised. Page 28 of 88.
Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished: A Tale of City Arab Life and Adventure
R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
This Victorian tale captures the stark transition from the desperate squalor of London’s slums to the redemptive promise of the Canadian wilderness. It is an earnest, episodic chronicle of salvation, both social and spiritual.
Four Young Explorers
Oliver Optic
Four young men embark on an extensive voyage through tropical waters, seeking adventure, scientific discovery, and a deeper understanding of the diverse cultures inhabiting the East.
More cargoes: 1897
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
The sea is rarely as dangerous as the men who sail upon it, particularly when they are bored, hungry, or scheming to avoid work. This collection of linked stories captures the droll, often frantic life of small-vessel sailors in the late nineteenth century.
Mr. Justice Raffles
E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
A legendary gentleman thief finds his composure tested when a ruthless moneylender threatens to dismantle his carefully curated life of crime and cricket.
Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer: A Romance of the Spanish Main
Cyrus Townsend Brady
This historical romance depicts the rise and gruesome fall of a notorious pirate, portraying him not as a swashbuckling hero, but as a cruel and calculating villain.
The Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp
John Henry Goldfrap
A band of spirited Boy Scouts pits their wits and training against a gang of ruthless criminals to recover a long-lost treasure. It is a classic tale of youthful ingenuity and courage.
The Forest
Stewart Edward White
A meditation on the art of living outdoors, this work captures the spirit of the North Woods through the eyes of a seasoned traveler. It is a guide to the physical and psychological transformation that occurs when one exchanges the comforts of civilization for the wilderness.
The Lost King of Oz
Ruth Plumly Thompson
The search for a missing monarch leads a ragtag band of adventurers through the magical geography of Oz to recover a lost throne. This whimsical quest bridges the gap between folklore and modern artifice.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 10
Robert Louis Stevenson
A young man finds himself thrust into a web of betrayal and high-stakes survival, forced to navigate the treacherous political landscape of 18th-century Scotland. This collection brings together two distinct narratives of fortune, folly, and the enduring bonds of unlikely friendship.
True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World
A. W. (Adolphus Washington) Greely
This collection of accounts chronicles the stark, unwavering courage displayed by explorers and indigenous guides during the perilous discovery of the North American Arctic. It offers a sober look at the human cost of mapping the frozen frontier.
Wild Folk
Samuel Scoville
The wild creatures of the forest, swamp, and sea lead lives defined by constant vigilance, maternal devotion, and the relentless pressure of survival. These intimate, observed portraits bridge the divide between human understanding and the secret rhythms of the natural world.
A Texas Ranger
William MacLeod Raine
The frontier holds no secrets for the man who rides with iron resolve, even when the law he serves is a stranger to the land he defends.
Atlantida
Pierre Benoît
Two French officers discover a hidden, ancient civilization deep in the Sahara, where a beautiful, lethal queen holds captive the men who fall under her spell.
The Backwoodsman
Unknown
A self-reliant pioneer carves a life on the edge of the Texas frontier, where the boundless prairie meets the rugged mountains and the shifting boundaries of indigenous territories.
The Leopard Woman
Stewart Edward White
HOOK A seasoned ivory hunter and a mysterious, high-born woman compete to reach a powerful African chieftain first. Their rivalry deepens into a dangerous, high-stakes game of manipulation amidst the unforgiving isolation of the veldt.
The Story of Paul Boyton: Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World
Paul Boyton
A man in a rubber suit traverses the great rivers of the world, testing his endurance against whirlpools, predators, and the sheer unpredictability of the elements.
Told by the death's head
Mór Jókai
A skull suspended in a fortress, once a man of many sins, recounts his bizarre journey through a life of impossible adventures. This is the confession of a rogue who has seen it all.
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
Frederick A. (Frederick Albion) Ober
A penniless debtor escapes his creditors in a wooden cask, only to carve his name into history across the jungle rivers and perilous peaks of Central America.
Dangers of the Trail in 1865: A Narrative of Actual Events
Charles E. (Charles Edward) Young
Crossing the violent 1865 frontier, a young man faces stampedes, Indian attacks, and ruthlessness while freighting supplies across the plains to Denver.
Our Little Cossack Cousin in Siberia
Fedor Alexis Postnikov
Living along the wild Amur River, a young boy grows up amid frontier dangers, traditional duties, and the proud military customs of a Cossack settlement.
Pluck on the Long Trail
Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin
A group of Boy Scouts must trek across the rugged Rocky Mountain wilderness to deliver an urgent message while outsmarting rival boys, poachers, and natural disasters.
The Drama of the Forests: Romance and Adventure
Arthur Heming
A winter in the Canadian north unfolds through the eyes of an artist who travels into the deep wilderness alongside an Ojibwa chief and his family.
The Eye of Istar: A Romance of the Land of No Return
William Le Queux
Across the sun-scorched sands of North Africa, a marked Dervish soldier risks death, captivity, and impossible terrain to unravel a ancient, dark secret stamped onto his own skin.
Vikings of the Pacific: The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward
Agnes C. Laut
Courage, desperation, and greed drive an array of global adventurers across the uncharted Pacific to claim the riches of North America's western edge.
A Man for the Ages: A Story of the Builders of Democracy
Irving Bacheller
A pioneer family travels west by covered wagon, carving out a home in the Illinois wilderness alongside a tall, awkward young clerk named Abe Lincoln.
Across the Andes
Charles Johnson Post
The edge of the wilderness tests every pretense of modern life. Between the snow line of the Andes and the rubber ports of the Amazon lies a world governed by swift currents, steep passes, and unforgiving endurance.
Both Sides the Border: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
An English lad rides into the treacherous world of Fifteenth-Century border warfare, learning that surviving the clash between Hotspur and Owen Glendower requires a quick brain as well as a heavy sword.
David Crockett: His Life and Adventures
John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
Driven by a restless frontier spirit, a illiterate backwoodsman rises from humble poverty to the halls of Congress and the bloody ramparts of the Alamo.
His Unknown Wife
Louis Tracy
A condemned American escapes a South American firing squad by marrying a mysterious stranger, only to end up shipwrecked with her on the desolate Chilean coast.
In Far Bolivia: A Story of a Strange Wild Land
Gordon Stables
A stolen heiress, a treacherous uncle, and a gun-toting wolf-hound collide in a high-octane Victorian jungle yarn where South American waterways flow with gold, blood, and constant peril.
On Land and Sea at the Dardanelles
T. C. (Thomas Charles) Bridges
A young Australian recruit and a former British sailor's son throw themselves into the chaos of the Gallipoli campaign, where courage and resourcefulness are tested against relentless Turkish fire.
Stories of Ships and the Sea
Jack London
A young sailor grips the wheel through a screaming Pacific typhoon, proving that grit and resolve matter far more at sea than age or authority.
The Escaping Club
A. J. (Alfred John) Evans
A British aviator captured in the First World War treats his captivity not as a sentence, but as a high-stakes game of endurance, strategy, and relentless escape across enemy lines.
The King of the Mountains
Edmond About
A young German botanist is captured by a ruthless Greek bandit who runs his ransom ring like a joint-stock company.
The tale of Buster Bumblebee
Arthur Scott Bailey
A lazy, handsome drone navigates the gentle perils and absurd misunderstandings of meadow life, blissfully unaware of his own comic uselessness.
The Wishing Well
Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt
High school sleuth Penny Parker stumbles into a web of small-town deceit when an abandoned historic estate suddenly regains its mysterious, impoverished owner.
Uncle Sam, Detective
William Atherton DuPuy
A sleek, early-twentieth-century federal agent matching wits with clever swindlers, gun-toting moonshiners, and global smugglers reveals the unglamorous, methodical reality of true American criminal investigation.
With Moore at Corunna
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
An Irish officer’s quick wits save a regimental wing at sea and launch him into the heart of the Peninsular War.
Beltane the Smith
Jeffery Farnol
A gentle giant bred to forge iron finds himself thrust into a bloody struggle to reclaim his birthright and deliver a oppressed duchy from tyranny.
Elissa
H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
Two lovers across culture and creed are swept into a deadly storm of jealousy, war, and religious fervor during the sudden, violent downfall of an ancient African empire.
From Sand Hill to Pine
Bret Harte
A collection of short stories set in the American West, exploring themes of adventure, love, and the human condition.
Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane
A firsthand account of the life and adventures of Calamity Jane, a legendary figure of the American West.
No Moss
Harry Castlemon
A spoiled youth joins a band of runaways, attempting to play pirate on the Rhode Island waters while fleeing school, authority, and common sense.
Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek
H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
Separated by violence, guided by visions, and hunted across the South African veldt, two lovers race against a vengeful enemy to reclaim their stolen lives.
The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Second: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Siam and Java
Thomas Wallace Knox
Two American youths and their learned mentor travel across Southeast Asia, recording the architecture, wildlife, and cultures of a rapidly changing world.
The Castle Inn
Stanley John Weyman
An eighteenth-century heiress is spirited along dark roads while gamblers, fortune-hunters, and an aristocratic rogue race through Wiltshire inns to claim or rescue her.
The Cave of Gold: A Tale of California in '49
Everett McNeil
A pair of young ranch boys in 1849 California brave wild bears, crooked gold-rush boomtowns, and ruthless ambushers to locate a secret mountain cavern stuffed with crude gold nuggets.
The Courage of Marge O'Doone
James Oliver Curwood
Driven by a mysterious photograph and a desire for renewal, a man plunges into the frozen Canadian wilderness, where he finds unexpected comradeship, a rescued half-wolf dog, and a young woman fighting for her freedom.