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British Literature — page 58
4,564 public-domain british literature books, summarised. Page 58 of 96.
Clocks
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
A whimsical reflection on the absurdity of modern life, this work uses the unreliable nature of timepieces to dissect the grand, hollow performance of human pretense.
King Henry V
William Shakespeare
The young King Henry V must transcend his reputation as a wayward youth, uniting a fractured England to claim a crown through a perilous, transformative campaign in France.
Murad the Unlucky, and Other Tales
Maria Edgeworth
These tales explore the tension between character and circumstance, asking whether our outcomes are shaped by an inescapable fate or by the quiet, steady discipline of our own choices. Through the lives of the unlucky and the privileged, the narratives weigh the value of reason against the impulses of the heart.
Nancy Stair: A Novel
Elinor Macartney Lane
A brilliant, unconventional young woman learns that the fire of poetic genius pales beside the quiet, profound fulfillment of motherhood.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, December 26, 1891
Various
This volume captures the irreverent, sharp-witted spirit of late-Victorian England, blending biting social satire with a whimsical, often absurd, view of contemporary life. It serves as a curated snapshot of the cultural anxieties and diversions that defined the end of the nineteenth century.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, May 23, 1917
Various
This collection of wit, satire, and reflection captures the distinct rhythm of daily life in Britain during the third year of the Great War. It serves as a vital historical record of how a nation maintained its composure through humor.
Songs of Action
Arthur Conan Doyle
The rugged, rhythmic verses of this collection capture the vitality of Victorian life, exploring themes of duty, sport, and the quiet dignity of the common man. These poems serve as a spirited chronicle of an era defined by empire, camaraderie, and the relentless march of time.
St. George's Cross
H. G. (Henry George) Keene
Caught between the crumbling monarchy of Charles II and the rising tide of the Commonwealth, a small island community struggles to survive the ambitions of a local despot. This historical drama captures the tensions of the 1640s through the lens of those living in the Channel Islands.
The Mayor of Troy
Arthur Quiller-Couch
The Mayor of Troy is a story of a man whose overblown sense of importance is shattered by a series of bizarre accidents, leading to a long, arduous journey that humbles his spirit.
The Rebel of the School
L. T. Meade
A headstrong Irish newcomer arrives at a prestigious English school, sparking a clandestine rebellion among the underprivileged foundation students against the social hierarchy.
The Spanish Tragedy
Thomas Kyd
A ghost demands vengeance for his own murder, sparking a cycle of blood that engulfs the Spanish court. This foundational tragedy explores the devastating cost of private justice in a world where the law has failed.
When the Birds Begin to Sing
Winifred (Matilda Winifred Muriel) Graham
HOOK A young woman’s desperate pursuit of romance leads her from a quiet farm to the dangerous, sun-drenched wilds of the East.
A Knight on Wheels
Ian Hay
This is a charming, lighthearted Edwardian exploration of a young man’s maturation, balancing the absurdity of adult life against the earnest, often difficult search for personal autonomy and romantic stability.
Alfgar the Dane or the Second Chronicle of Aescendune: A Tale of the Days of Edmund Ironside
A. D. (Augustine David) Crake
This historical chronicle dramatizes the twilight of Anglo-Saxon England through the eyes of those caught between the fading light of a crumbling monarchy and the harsh dawn of a new regime. It transforms the scholarly detachment of the era’s annals into a vivid, human-centered narrative of faith, betrayal, and the…
Anne Hereford: A Novel
Wood, Henry, Mrs.
An orphaned governess finds herself trapped in a labyrinth of family secrets, spectral occurrences, and dangerous legacies within the walls of a grand, forbidding English estate.
Garthowen: A Story of a Welsh Homestead
Allen Raine
HOOK A young wanderer returns to his Welsh homestead to find his family fractured by secrets and broken promises, setting into motion a quiet, pastoral drama of redemption, integrity, and the enduring power of home.
Gutta-Percha Willie: The Working Genius
George MacDonald
HOOK A curious, inventive boy transforms his world through the dignity of labor, discovering that the most profound miracles are found in the careful, everyday work of helping others.
J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 2
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
HOOK These tales explore the thin membrane between the tangible world and the encroaching past, where ancient grievances and spectral figures refuse to remain buried.
Kathleen
Christopher Morley
A group of imaginative Oxford students, enchanted by a stranger’s lost letter, concoct an elaborate scheme to track down its author. What begins as a playful literary competition descends into a hilarious, high-stakes comedy of errors.
King Henry VI, Part 3
William Shakespeare
A relentless, blood-drenched struggle for the English throne, this play charts the brutal collapse of a kingdom where family ties are severed by the sword and oaths are mere casualties of war.
Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 8, 1914
Various
A sharp, witty window into the polite absurdities of Edwardian England, this collection captures the specific, fleeting anxieties of a society poised on the precipice of the Great War.
Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) and Two Other Reminiscences
H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
A breezy, cynical collection of monologues captures the Victorian obsession with propriety, fashion, and the quiet, crushing weight of social expectation through the eyes of an eccentric uncle.
Selected Poems
John Masefield
This collection gathers the work of a poet obsessed with the raw, rhythmic toil of the sea and the fleeting, often tragic beauty of human endeavor. It serves as a window into a world where the salt-spray and the soul’s deepest longings are inextricably linked.
The Bars of Iron
Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell
A story of two deeply flawed souls seeking redemption, this narrative explores the transformative power of love when it breaks through the rigid, self-imposed barriers of guilt and social expectation.
The Comical Pilgrim
Anonymous
This cynical travelogue offers a biting, satirical tour of the British Isles and the Netherlands, stripping away the pretensions of the age to expose the vices of every land the narrator visits.
The Mystery of the Ravenspurs: A Romance and Detective Story of Thibet and England
Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White
HOOK A noble family’s ancient estate is besieged by a shadowy, murderous conspiracy, forcing its heirs to confront an exotic, occult terror that reaches from the mountain heights of Tibet to the cliffs of England.
The Phantom Lover
Ruby M. (Ruby Mildred) Ayres
A man falls in love with a woman grieving for a cad, and in his desperation to shield her, he begins a dangerous game of deception.
The Pride of Eve
Warwick Deeping
This novel follows a young woman’s struggle for independence, art, and purpose in a world that consistently underestimates her. It is a quiet, atmospheric meditation on the tension between artistic ambition and the constraints of Edwardian society.
The White Riband
F. Tennyson (Fryniwyd Tennyson) Jesse
This is a haunting portrait of a girl who, starving for beauty, mistakes an ideal for reality and loses everything in its pursuit. It is a stark, elegant study of social boundaries and the dangerous power of symbols.
Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare
A shipwreck separates twins, leading to a cascade of mistaken identities and romantic entanglements in a land where love, like the tides, is both relentless and unpredictable.
An Eye for an Eye
Anthony Trollope
An impulsive young nobleman’s refusal to marry the woman he has dishonored sets off a chain of ruinous consequences that destroys an aristocratic house and leaves a mother shattered by grief and vengeance.
Forward from Babylon
Louis Golding
The story of a young man’s painful journey toward self-definition, this novel captures the clash between an immigrant father’s rigid, tradition-bound world and a son’s yearning for the wider horizons of modernity.
![Cover of Little Lord Fauntleroy [abridged]: Für den Schulgebrauch bearbeitet](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/little-lord-fauntleroy-abridged-fur-den-schulgebrauch-bearbeitet.webp)
Little Lord Fauntleroy [abridged]: Für den Schulgebrauch bearbeitet
Frances Hodgson Burnett
A young American boy, living in humble surroundings, discovers he is the sole heir to a British earldom and must bridge the vast divide between his simple life and the rigid, aristocratic world of his grandfather.
Little Travels and Roadside Sketches
William Makepeace Thackeray
A witty and acerbic observer navigates the Low Countries, dissecting the manners, superstitions, and travel habits of the mid-nineteenth-century British tourist with sharp, irreverent precision.
Lochinvar: A Novel
S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
A man of action finds his purpose in a perilous quest to reclaim his stolen love, crossing continents and seas to defy the powerful enemies who seek to keep them apart.
Philaster
John Fletcher
A deposed prince and a princess navigate a web of royal intrigue, secret identities, and shifting loyalties in a kingdom on the brink of revolt. This foundational tragicomedy blends courtly romance with populist fury, capturing the volatile intersection of personal desire and state power.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, April 5, 1916
Various
A vivid snapshot of the British home front during the Great War, this collection captures the absurdity, anxiety, and stoic humor of a society grappling with upheaval.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 98, March 22, 1890
Various
HOOK A sharp-eyed, satirical survey of Victorian life, capturing the era’s political maneuvering, aesthetic pretensions, and social absurdities through a blend of biting prose and classic wit.
The Comedy of Errors
William Shakespeare
A fractured family reunites in a city of strangers, where a single day of bewildering coincidences turns the lives of two sets of identical twins upside down. This classic comedy navigates the fine line between farce and genuine distress, enduring through the centuries as a masterclass in the mechanics of mistaken…
The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions
James Runciman
A keen-eyed observer turns his gaze upon the moral fractures of Victorian Britain, challenging his readers to move beyond hollow platitudes and confront the stark realities of poverty, vice, and social apathy.
The Gates of Dawn
Fergus Hume
The gates of dawn reveal more than a sunrise; for a young wanderer, they mark the threshold where a chance encounter with a mysterious girl turns a simple summer holiday into a life-altering quest for truth.
The Intrusions of Peggy
Anthony Hope
A young widow’s quest for social standing in London society leads to a precarious game of ambition and ruin. This story of high-stakes maneuvering reveals how the pursuit of status can scorch the soul.
The Lady Evelyn: A Story of To-day
Max Pemberton
A young actress discovers that her private life is bound to an ancient, dangerous vendetta involving her father’s hidden past. This suspenseful Edwardian melodrama follows a woman caught between her own aspirations and the dark secrets of a foreign aristocratic feud.
The Red Hand of Ulster
George A. Birmingham
HOOK When a mysterious American millionaire begins bankrolling an armed uprising in Northern Ireland, a local landlord becomes an accidental witness to a rebellion that defies both the British government and common sense.
The Sentimental Adventures of Jimmy Bulstrode
Marie Van Vorst
Jimmy Bulstrode is a man defined by his compulsive, quiet generosity and an enduring, unspoken devotion to a woman he cannot marry. He navigates a world of privilege, using his wealth to quietly untangle the lives of others while remaining tethered to his own singular, romantic loyalty.
The Shakespeare Myth
Durning-Lawrence, Edwin, Sir
The Shakespeare myth is a vigorous polemic that argues the man from Stratford-upon-Avon was an illiterate front for a far greater genius. It challenges the reader to look past historical assumptions and examine the physical evidence of the 1623 Folio.
The Silver Domino
Marie Corelli
This is a sharp, polemical survey of 1890s British literary and social life, composed by an anonymous voice who claims the privilege of the masked observer. It offers a bracing, if highly opinionated, tour through the scandals, pretenses, and personalities of the Victorian establishment, written with the confidence…
The Stowmarket Mystery
Louis Tracy
HOOK A barrister-detective hunts a shadow in an Edwardian mystery, unraveling a deadly tangle of family secrets, Japanese martial blades, and a cold-blooded murder committed in a locked room.