Free summaries
Novels — page 25
1,233 public-domain novels books, summarised. Page 25 of 26.
The Test Colony
Winston K. (Winston Kinney) Marks
A group of human colonists on a remote, lush planet attempts to preserve their civilization, only to find themselves outsmarted by a deceptively simple, fun-loving race of extraterrestrials.
The Transgression of Andrew Vane: A Novel
Guy Wetmore Carryl
A young American in Paris finds himself caught between the wholesome ideals of his past and the seductive, destructive allure of a city that never seems to wake from its own afternoon.
Traders Risk
Roger D. Aycock
The galaxy is a dangerous place for the unprepared, but a stranded predator and an intergalactic misunderstanding offer a rare chance for a fresh start. On a quiet water world, the arrival of a panicked alien ship threatens to shatter two civilizations at once.
Victory
Lester Del Rey
The galaxy is a treacherous place where war is a constant, exhausting grind, yet the true test of any victor is not the destruction of an enemy, but the ability to face the next, larger challenge.
His Heart's Queen
Sheldon, Georgie, Mrs.
A spirited young woman defies her cold-hearted guardians to marry the man she loves, only to be driven into exile by a cruel deception that leaves her believing she is a widow.
Moon Glow
G. L. Vandenburg
The first men to stand upon the moon find the surface barren, yet one discovery among the lunar dust threatens to turn their triumphant return into a cold, existential confrontation.
Purple Springs
Nellie L. McClung
HOOK A young woman faces a defining spring of transformation, navigating the restrictive politics of her province while discovering that personal independence and romantic fulfillment are not mutually exclusive.
Pythias
Frederik Pohl
The narrator sits in a prison cell awaiting execution for the murder of his oldest friend, Laurence Connaught. He confesses to the crime willingly, justifying the cold-blooded killing as a necessary act to save the world from an impossible power.
Ruben and Ivy Sên
Louise Jordan Miln
A young man caught between his English upbringing and his Chinese heritage struggles to reconcile his mother’s past, his sister’s sorrow, and his own desire for a love that spans two worlds.
The Alchemist's Secret
Isabel Cecilia Williams
This collection of interconnected tales explores the quiet dignity of the marginalized and the profound, often sudden, interventions of faith in lives defined by hardship. It serves as a gentle, earnest meditation on human fallibility and the possibility of spiritual renewal.
The Baronet's Bride
May Agnes Fleming
A web of long-buried family secrets and hidden identities threatens to destroy a young marriage, as a vengeful interloper plots a murderous path toward a dark inheritance.
The Emily Emmins Papers
Carolyn Wells
A whimsical, observant traveler turns her back on the frantic pace of typical tourism, choosing instead to lose herself in the quiet, atmospheric corners of London.
The Men in the Walls
William Tenn
In the dark, narrow confines of a forgotten world, a young man’s rite of passage reveals that the monsters he fears are merely human, and the walls he calls home are a vast, unnoticed prison.
The Poor Gentleman
Hendrik Conscience
A gentleman of noble lineage struggles to maintain a facade of wealth to protect his daughter’s future, finding himself caught in a tightening web of debt and societal expectation. This story examines the intersection of pride, material ruin, and the redemptive power of familial devotion.
The Seed of the Toc-Toc Birds
George Henry Weiss
The atom contains worlds beyond our own, and when one man bridges the gap, he invites an invasion of creatures who view our planet as mere territory to be conquered.
Beware, the Usurpers!
Robert W. Krepps
The world is a stage of puppet-bodies, and only a select few know that monsters pull the strings from a fourth dimension. Can a ragtag band of outcasts reclaim Earth from these invisible, encroaching usurpers?
Bohemian Society
Lydia Leavitt
This collection of philosophical vignettes, framed as a salon gathering of thinkers, explores the intersection of human suffering, social pretension, and the search for spiritual meaning. It serves as a gentle meditation on the disconnect between our ideals and the realities of modern existence.
Martyr
Alan Edward Nourse
HOOK This story explores the harrowing cost of absolute power and the hidden decay of a society that has exchanged ambition for eternal, stagnant youth.
Slingshot
Irving W. Lande
In the silent vacuum of space, a weary fighter pilot realizes that the endless, bloody stalemate of his war demands a radical, desperate innovation to survive.
Suffered in vain
Bertha M. Clay
The shadow of a secret inheritance forces a reluctant soldier to guard a young heiress, only to find himself trapped in a web of obsession, murder, and high-society intrigue.
The Finger of Fate: A Romance
Mayne Reid
The Finger of Fate follows the divergent paths of two half-brothers, Nigel and Henry Harding, as they navigate the betrayals of their inheritance, the machinations of a social-climbing family, and the brutal realities of the Italian criminal underworld.
The Man Who Staked the Stars
Katherine MacLean
A ruthless corporate kingpin faces a silent, invisible threat when his own board of directors deploys a psychological assassin to dismantle his ambition from the inside.
The Telenizer
Don Thompson
HOOK A reporter discovers he is being psychically manipulated by a mysterious, invisible force that turns his world into a surreal nightmare of hallucination and terror.
The Witch Hypnotizer
Zena A. Maher
A quiet, solitary woman discovers she possesses a mysterious, magnetic power to influence the minds of others toward righteousness. She spends her final years transforming a fractured city one soul at a time.
A Star for a Night: A Story of Stage Life
Elsie Janis
This narrative captures the frantic, glittering, and often precarious world of early 20th-century New York theater, where young women arrive with big dreams and find their paths paved by the whims of wealthy, possessive "angels." It is a candid look at the intersection of ambition, art, and the transactional nature…
Behind the Throne
William Le Queux
Behind the Throne is an intricate, atmospheric tale of political intrigue and personal sacrifice set within the highest levels of the Italian government. It captures the dark, treacherous intersection of state secrets, bureaucratic corruption, and the private lives of those pulling the levers of power.
Mr. Oseba's Last Discovery
George W. (George William) Bell
An American observer discovers a hidden, hollow-earth civilization that looks to New Zealand as the pinnacle of human progress and social justice.
Peggy Plays Off-Broadway
Virginia Hughes
HOOK Ambition meets reality in the high-stakes world of New York theater, where a young actress discovers that the most challenging performance happens off-stage.
The courts of Jamshyd
Robert F. Young
In a scorched, post-apocalyptic wasteland, a starving tribe sustains its fragile existence through ritualized hatred of the ancestors who destroyed the world.
The Dominion in 1983
Ralph Centennius
This speculative vision of a future Canada imagines a century of rapid technological and moral evolution, transforming a struggling 19th-century Dominion into a prosperous, technologically advanced global powerhouse.
The Fatal Glove
Clara Augusta
A young boy’s act of kindness and a stolen token of affection spiral into a decade of vengeance, mistaken identities, and a high-stakes search for truth across the shifting landscapes of the nineteenth-century American city.
Think Yourself to Death
Stephen Marlowe
A legendary operative inhabits a succession of mortal shells to navigate a galaxy of forgotten worlds and moral crises. This high-stakes science fiction adventure follows a man whose consciousness is untethered, forcing him to body-hop to survive as he works to prevent a planet from falling under the sway of…
Yesterday House
Fritz Leiber
A young biology student discovers a girl living in a strange, time-locked isolation on a remote Maine island, unknowingly trapped in a scientist’s obsessive effort to resurrect his lost love.
Cry Chaos!
Dwight V. Swain
The fate of the solar system hangs on a desperate, high-stakes game of shadows and survival played out in the farthest reaches of the void. A legendary wanderer must navigate a web of intergalactic slavery and political betrayal to reclaim his honor and secure the future of his people.
Felix Lanzberg's Expiation
Ossip Schubin
The shadow of a tarnished reputation haunts a man seeking redemption in a society that never truly forgets. This is a story of how a single, irrevocable past can define a life, no matter how much one struggles to outrun it.
Freedom
Mack Reynolds
A chilling, taut examination of political fervor, this story depicts a high-ranking state security agent who finds himself infected by the very ideology he is tasked to suppress. It remains a stark, unsentimental portrait of how easily a monolithic power structure can lose its grip when its citizens begin to dream…
Jan Vedder's Wife
Amelia E. Barr
The story follows the fragile marriage of a proud Shetland fisherman and his strong-willed wife, whose inability to communicate leads to a painful separation and a long, testing journey toward mutual understanding and ultimate peace.
Question of Comfort
Les Cole
The Gravity Gang is a brilliant, ragtag team of experts unknowingly caught in the crosshairs of an interstellar manhunt. An undercover alien operative poses as a Disneyland PR man, using the construction of a “Tour of the Solar System” attraction to flush out a dangerous fugitive hiding among his staff.
San Salvador
Mary Agnes Tincker
Seeking a hidden sanctuary, a young woman discovers a remote, utopian society where the rigors of the world fall away, revealing both the beauty of communal living and the haunting, inescapable nature of human longing.
Sun-Dog trails
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
A high-stakes wagon runaway crashes directly into a stagecoach robbery, hurling two offbeat cowboys into a web of small-town corruption, hidden gold, and decades-old vengeance.
The Ethic of the Assassin
Hayden Howard
A physician on a colonized planet fights a cold, ritualized death sentence hanging over his pregnant wife, only to find that his only hope lies in operating on the legendary, sightless assassin who holds the contract.
The Flight of the Eagle
Alfred Coppel
A space-faring crew risks everything to transport a sentient, weather-altering plant from Venus to a starving Earth. Their desperate mission hinges on a navigator with a unique, mutated gift.
The Inglises
Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson
HOOK This story traces the quiet fortitude of a widowed mother and her children as they navigate poverty, loss, and the demanding path of faith in a stern, beautiful landscape.
The shadow shooter
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
Out on the open range of Silver River Valley, a botched mail-order suit and a corpse hauled across a saddle set off a tangle of cattle rustling, framed murder, and hidden identities.
Assignment in the Dawn
Bryce Walton
He awakens into a world he cannot remember, fueled only by an immediate, overwhelming devotion to a woman whose voice gives him purpose.
Damned
E. S. (Ethel Smith) Dorrance
In a dark, electric-lit underworld, a newly arrived woman must narrate her earthly misfortunes to a sardonic Satan to determine her eternal destination.
Doomsday on Ajiat
Neil R. Jones
A human mind preserved in a cosmic coffin wakes millions of years after Earth has died, joining a race of mechanical explorers on a journey toward a sun about to explode.
Fifty Per Cent Prophet
Randall Garrett
He is a fraud whose visions keep coming true, and the government agencies watching him cannot decide whether to lock him up or make him a director.