Free summaries
Historical Novels — page 2
387 public-domain historical novels books, summarised. Page 2 of 9.
The Saga of Grettir the Strong: Grettir's Saga
Unknown
A legendary Icelandic outlaw battles restless spirits and societal exile in this stark, heroic tale, ultimately finding his legacy avenged in the distant reaches of the Byzantine Empire.
The Sorceress of Rome
Nathan Gallizier
Amid the decay and corruption of tenth-century Rome, a young, idealistic emperor and a beautiful, manipulative noblewoman collide in a tragic struggle for power and affection.
The Pocket Bible
Eugène Sue
The printer Christian Lebrenn fights for his family’s survival amid the religious fires of sixteenth-century France. This sweeping chronicle weaves a personal story of faith and resistance into the broader, blood-drenched tapestry of the Reformation.
The Cossacks: A Tale of 1852
Tolstoy, Leo, graf
A young man flees the crushing expectations of Moscow society for the wild, rugged freedom of the Caucasus, only to discover that he cannot easily shed his own nature or truly belong to the world he admires.
Hania
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Youthful passion, bitter rivalry, and tragic misunderstanding collide against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Polish estate life, where an idealistic young noble loses the woman he loves to his charismatic Tartar friend.
An Egyptian Princess
Georg Ebers
A grand, tragic romance where Egyptian priestcraft, Greek intellect, and Persian imperial ambition collide around an swapped royal bride.
Laxdæla Saga: Translated from the Icelandic
Muriel A. C. Press
In the valleys of western Iceland, blood ties, ambition, and pride drive generations into boundlessly cruel feuds.
A Friend of Cæsar: A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C
William Stearns Davis
A young Roman’s unwavering commitment to his ideals tests the boundaries of loyalty and love as the Republic crumbles into civil war.
Fabiola
Nicholas Patrick Wiseman
This narrative of the early Church illuminates the courage of Roman martyrs, offering a vivid window into a world where faith was a capital offense and devotion meant certain death.
Konrad Wallenrod: An Historical Poem
Adam Mickiewicz
A man infiltrates his nation's deadliest enemy, rising to the highest seat of power only to dismantle them from within. This is a story of vengeance sustained by the total sacrifice of a soul.
Dreamers of the Ghetto
Israel Zangwill
These portraits capture the collision between ancient heritage and modern impulse, tracking the lives of men who dared to dream beyond the confines of their traditions.
Cenci: Celebrated Crimes
Alexandre Dumas
A noble Roman family descends into madness, betrayal, and state-sanctioned slaughter under the shadow of the Renaissance papacy. This unflinching account of the Cenci tragedy exposes the lethal intersection of unchecked power and domestic horror.
The Viking Blood: A Story of Seafaring
Frederick William Wallace
This maritime coming-of-age story follows a young boy’s journey from a neglected apprentice on a harsh merchant barque to a heroic master mariner and respected leader in a Nova Scotian fishing community.
Ekkehard: A Tale of the Tenth Century. Vol. 2 (of 2)
Joseph Victor von Scheffel
This historical narrative chronicles the emotional and spiritual trials of a monk in the tenth century, whose life becomes inextricably bound to the fate of a powerful Duchess and the looming threat of Hunnic invaders.
The Interpreter: A Tale of the War
G. J. (George John) Whyte-Melville
A quiet, introspective man recounts his lifelong devotion to a woman he cannot possess, navigating the hazards of the Crimean War and the complexities of his own guarded heart.
The Seats of the Mighty, Complete
Gilbert Parker
A British officer languishes in a Quebec dungeon, caught between the machinations of corrupt French officials and a love that defies the brutal collapse of New France.
Under the Rose
Frederic Stewart Isham
Under the rose, the truth remains hidden from those who only look at the surface of a courtly game.
The Story of Don John of Austria
Luis Coloma
To grow up as a secret royal bastard in sixteenth-century Spain is to step straight into a web of religious fervor, courtly treachery, and military glory.
The Age of Chivalry
Thomas Bulfinch
A grand, tapestry-like gathering of ancient lore transforms mythical histories and courtly adventures into a clear, accessible handbook of chivalric tradition.
Pelle the Conqueror
Martin Andersen Nexø
Two lives cross the sea from Sweden to Denmark, carrying nothing but a father’s fragile hopes and a boy’s fierce capacity to endure.
The Pharaoh and the Priest: An Historical Novel of Ancient Egypt
Bolesław Prus
A youthful prince inherits an ancient empire only to find his crown constrained by a cunning, wealthy priesthood that controls the state.
Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the Lord
Edwin Abbott Abbott
A disciple looks back across the decades to recount his life, offering a humble, human-centered portrait of Jesus of Nazareth that seeks to reveal the divine through the lens of lived experience.
Apu Ollantay: A Drama of the Time of the Incas
Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir
This dramatic tale of forbidden love and imperial power offers a rare window into the traditional stories of the Incas, preserved through memory and later transcribed in the Andean highlands. It explores the tension between rigid social hierarchy and the irrepressible nature of human affection.
Stromboli and the Guns
Francis Henry Gribble
A charismatic, self-proclaimed architect of history recounts a lifetime of narrow escapes and international intrigue. He is a man who treats every crisis as a stage for his own performance, ensuring he always has the final word.
The Emperor
Georg Ebers
A sweeping historical drama of imperial power, artistic ambition, and the fragility of human fortune under the gaze of a complex, brooding ruler.
"Unto Caesar"
Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
A Roman praefect finds his faith challenged by the cruelty of a paranoid emperor and the allure of a noblewoman, culminating in a choice between earthly power and a higher, unseen calling.
Fallen Fortunes
Evelyn Everett-Green
A young gentleman returns to his ancestral home only to find it ruined and his inheritance stolen, forcing him to trade his noble birthright for the hard-won dignity of an honest life. This is a story of personal integrity in the face of aristocratic corruption and the fickle nature of societal favor.
The Childhood of Rome
Louise Lamprey
The foundations of a legendary city emerge not from dry stone, but from the rhythms of daily life, the warmth of the hearth, and the shared survival of a resilient people.
The Last Galley
Arthur Conan Doyle
The sweep of history and the shadows of the unknown converge in these varied accounts of human experience. From the fall of ancient empires to the quiet terrors of the modern world, these narratives examine what remains when civilizations crumble and individuals face the inexplicable.
The Bridal Wreath
Sigrid Undset
A young woman in medieval Norway struggles to reconcile her fierce, independent desire with the rigid expectations of her family, her faith, and her own heart.
Arius the Libyan: A Romance of the Primitive Church
Nathan C. (Nathan Chapman) Kouns
This narrative chronicles the life of an ascetic theologian caught in the collision between the primitive, communal spirit of early Christianity and the burgeoning political machinery of the Roman Empire. It is a portrait of ideological endurance set against the backdrop of a changing world.
The Grey Man
S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
A landscape of ancient, bloody grudges, this tale follows a young man caught in the shadow of a legendary feud. It remains a classic of Scottish historical fiction, capturing the raw, relentless spirit of a kingdom divided.
Gerald Fitzgerald, the Chevalier: A Novel
Charles Lever
A street child in Rome grows up to discover he is the secret heir to the Stuart throne, sweeping him into high-stakes European intrigue. <Image alt="Gerald Fitzgerald standing before an kneeling Cardinal" caption="Gerald Fitzgerald acknowledged by the Cardinal" src="imageagenttag17003276602765713539"/
Sintram and His Companions
La Motte-Fouqué, Friedrich Heinrich Karl, Freiherr de
A tormented young knight rides through the frozen valleys of Norway, battling hideous waking nightmares, dark ancestral curses, and the constant, shadowy presence of temptation and death.
The Maids of Paradise
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
A secret agent and a idealist countess clash in the shadows of a collapsing empire, bound by a dangerous hunt for stolen treasure and a shared quest for redemption.
Antonina
Wilkie Collins
An ancient empire crumbles from within as barbarian hordes gather at its gates, forcing a pious young woman and a decadent senator to face the terrifying abyss of human nature.
The Garden of Memories
Henry St. John Cooper
The shadows of the past haunt a sun-drenched estate, where a young man’s strange, dream-born longing threatens to undo the delicate balance of his new marriage.
Stephen: A Soldier of the Cross
Florence Morse Kingsley
This is a narrative of profound transformation, imagining the lives of those caught in the wake of the early Christian movement. It follows figures across the social strata of first-century Judea as they wrestle with the memory of a crucified teacher and the emerging, often violent, friction between tradition and a…
Moon of Israel: A Tale of the Exodus
H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
The Exodus story finds a new perspective in this tale of a prince caught between his duty to the throne of Egypt and his secret love for an Israelite prophetess.
The Hammer: A Story of the Maccabean Times
Alfred John Church
A stirring, historical account of a people pushed to the brink, this narrative chronicles the Maccabean struggle to preserve their faith and identity against the overwhelming pressures of an encroaching empire.
Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume I
Charles Lever
A young Irishman’s search for identity pulls him from his family’s ruins into the heart of Napoleon’s empire, where he must navigate the brutal, glittering, and treacherous life of a soldier.
Arethusa
F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
A reckless Venetian soldier of fortune turns merchant in the treacherous, intrigue-filled streets of 14th-century Constantinople, only to find his life irrevocably altered by a beautiful, self-sacrificing slave.
Romances of Old Japan: Rendered into English from Japanese Sources
Yei Theodora Ozaki
A woman discovers her missing daughter only after her husband accidentally kills the child, setting off a quiet cascade of grief and redemption.
The Golden Dog
William Kirby
In the twilight of New France, a noble house fractures under the weight of political corruption, doomed romance, and a fatal stroke of treachery.
A Thorny Path
Georg Ebers
In third-century Alexandria, a single reckless act of art drags an ordinary gem-cutter’s family into the fatal inner circle of Emperor Caracalla, turning a young woman’s devotion to her brothers into a desperate fight for survival.
Thoroughbreds
William Alexander Fraser
Thoroughbreds is a story of faith, family, and the resilient spirit of the horse. It explores the tension between honest passion and the cold calculations of those who view life through a ledger.
Nisida: Celebrated Crimes
Alexandre Dumas
A Neapolitan island beauty becomes the target of a ruthless nobleman, forcing a proud fishing family into an agonizing clash with power, honor, and justice.
The Death of the Gods: (Christ and Antichrist, 1 of 3)
Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky
A fourth-century emperor attempts to turn back the clock of history, pitting the dying gods of pagan antiquity against the relentless rise of a young Christian church.