Free summaries
Short Stories — page 2
134 public-domain short stories books, summarised. Page 2 of 3.
Discovery
Helen R. (Helen Rose) Hull
To break free from the quiet trap of small-town expectations, a young woman must first dismantle the subtle condescension of the men who claim to teach her.
Hauntings: Fantastic Stories
Vernon Lee
Phantom lovers, ancient sorceries, and deadly artistic obsessions bleed into the lives of the living, turning historical obsession into madness across four eerie tales.
Shapes that Haunt the Dusk
Unknown
In quiet rooms and sundrenched clearings, everyday American life frays at the margins, exposing ghostly apparitions, vanished architecture, and uncanny premonitions that ordinary reason cannot explain.
Children of the Bush
Henry Lawson
This is a collection of stories about the grit, the silence, and the fleeting camaraderie found in the Australian outback at the end of the nineteenth century.
The drums roll
Ernest Haycox
The drums of the Continental Army hold a promise of glory that drives men through mud and mist, yet for one soldier, the true, desperate heart of the revolution lies in the chaos of a single, confused day.
On the Track
Henry Lawson
Life on the Australian frontier is raw, dry, and relentlessly hard, yet saved from grimness by dark humor, fierce loyalties, and the endless, easygoing talk of men who have nothing left to lose.
In Midsummer Days, and Other Tales
August Strindberg
These stories capture the fleeting, often bittersweet nature of human existence, finding magic in the mundane and beauty in the inevitable cycles of growth, decay, and loss.
Thirteen Stories
R. B. (Robert Bontine) Cunninghame Graham
The sun-scorched plains of South America and the dusty edges of empire serve as the backdrop for these restless, wandering portraits of men caught between two worlds.
Twenty-Three Stories by Twenty and Three Authors
Unknown
This anthology brings together twenty-three distinct voices, each spinning a self-contained web of atmosphere, dread, and the quiet desperation of the human condition. It is a mosaic of early twentieth-century fiction that explores the thin membranes separating sanity from mania, and civilization from the wild,…
Atlantic Narratives: Modern Short Stories
E. (Edith) Nesbit
A varied anthology of American and British stories captures early twentieth-century lives through domestic strain, wartime grief, wild landscapes, and quiet spiritual awakenings.
Ten minute stories
Algernon Blackwood
These brief, atmospheric sketches capture the fragile boundary between the mundane world and the encroaching unknown, where a single moment can pull the veil back on hidden, unsettling truths.
The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes
Israel Zangwill
This collection gathers diverse tales of late-Victorian and Edwardian life, exploring the tension between social facades and the private, often messy, realities of the human heart. It is a portrait of people navigating the constraints of class, ambition, and memory.
A little help for Hawkins
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
This humorous Western tale follows a group of well-meaning but misguided cowboys who attempt to "save" their gloom-stricken friend from a perceived inheritance crisis, only to discover that the tragedy they are solving exists entirely within the pages of a magazine.
The Old Willow Tree, and Other Stories
Carl Ewald
The natural world is not a backdrop for human affairs, but a bustling, competitive, and often ruthless society where every blade of grass and ancient tree has a voice, a grudge, and a story to tell.
Pâkia: 1901
Louis Becke
The aging traveler recounts a life of global wandering, from the icy Southern seas to the ports of Liverpool, finding solace at last in a quiet exchange of stories under the Pacific moon.
The collected stories of Elisabeth Sanxay Holding from Munsey's Magazine, 1920-1928
Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
A man's quiet refusal to settle for a ordinary marriage sparks an unexpected awakening in the woman who believed she had perfected it.
The twelve best short stories in the French language
Unknown
A noble Moor and a proud Spanish noble duel over love and honor, while a captive officer counts his days in the Caucasus. Passion, duty, and quiet tragedy intertwine across a tapestry of classic French short fiction.
Here and Hereafter
Barry Pain
Quiet human dramas unfold across English countryside towns and wealthy urban drawing rooms, exposing how social facades crumble under sudden moral reckoning.
My Friend Pasquale, and Other Stories
James Selwin Tait
A devoted friend uncovers a terrifying secret behind a series of inexplicable murders in Victorian London, where the line between brilliant intellect and sudden madness vanishes into tragedy.
Salt of the Earth
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
A pair of down-on-their-luck prospectors attempt to swindle two oddly dressed newcomers in a deserted Western town, only to discover that the marks are far sharper than they look.
Ghetto Comedies
Israel Zangwill
A collection of stories depicting the bittersweet struggle for identity, survival, and belonging among Jewish immigrants caught between the ancient traditions of the Ghetto and the rapid, often cold, transformation of the modern world.
Hair-Trigger Hollibaugh
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
A weary outlaw and a pragmatic drifter collide in the dusty isolation of a dying mining town, setting off a chain of events that exposes the greed, absurdity, and hidden morality of the frontier.
First Love, and Other Fascinating Stories of Spanish Life
Unknown
A sharp look at human vanity and the unpredictable turns of devotion, where dignity is repeatedly weighed against desire across five vivid portrayals of nineteenth-century Iberian life.
Selected Polish Tales
Else C. M. (Else Cecilia Mendelssohn) Benecke
A poor farmer watches a modern world roll past his fence line, helpless to hold his land against the quiet rush of change.
Old Man Savarin Stories: Tales of Canada and Canadians
Edward William Thomson
A collection of short stories capturing the frontier grit, quiet heroism, and dry humor of nineteenth-century Canadian life.
The Ravens and the Angels, with Other Stories and Parables
Elizabeth Rundle Charles
A collection of parables and stories that finds the extraordinary within the ordinary, showing how small acts of faith and kindness can transform the world.
The Rising of the Court
Henry Lawson
This collection of prose pieces captures the raw, unfiltered pulse of the Australian frontier and the claustrophobic indignity of city police courts. It is a work of deep empathy for the displaced, the weary, and the "cobbers" who stand by their own when the law fails them.
Stories and Sketches by our best authors
Various
This collection captures the mid-19th-century American imagination through a series of varied, spirited narratives that range from domestic dramas to harrowing, atmospheric escapades.
Short stories from the Balkans
Edna Worthley Underwood
This collection of short stories captures the social textures, folklore, and turbulent transitions of the Balkan Peninsula in the early twentieth century. It serves as a window into a world of tradition, religious fervor, and the encroaching modernity of the era.
Pie for Magpie
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
This comedic Western captures the absurdity of human vanity, as a simple wager spirals into a chaotic tangle of mistaken identities, stolen clothes, and a motorized hearse. It is a sharp, witty look at how even the most "civilized" people can be undone by their own pride and the unforgiving wilderness.
Stories by Foreign Authors: Polish, Greek, Belgian, Hungarian
Unknown
This collection of translations brings together quiet human heartbreak, dry domestic comedy, and sweeping historical violence across four distinct European traditions. <Image alt="An open vintage book resting on a wooden surface" caption="Stories from across 19th-century Europe"…
Separation
Helen R. (Helen Rose) Hull
Bound to her mother by restrictive authority and drawn toward an adult world she does not yet understand, a young girl discovers the bitter, intoxicating independence of growing up.
Tomaso's Fortune and Other Stories
Henry Seton Merriman
This collection of tales captures the precariousness of human connection, where a single decision or a chance encounter can alter the trajectory of a life forever.
Popular Tales
Madame (Elisabeth Charlotte Pauline) Guizot
Kindness, duty, and the quiet labor of self-improvement form the bedrock of these formative tales. Each story serves as a lens through which young readers learn to navigate the complexities of character and social responsibility.
The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage, and Other Tales
Francis A. (Francis Alexander) Durivage
A collection of mid-nineteenth-century tales, this volume explores the fragile boundary between romantic idealism and the harsh, often tragic, realities of life. It serves as a window into the popular literary preoccupations of its era, blending moral instruction with dramatic flair.
The Strand Magazine, Vol. 07, Issue 41, May, 1894: An Illustrated Monthly
Various
This May 1894 issue of a monthly illustrated magazine captures the Victorian appetite for variety, blending hard-boiled mystery, whimsical folklore, political reportage, and satirical fiction into a single, eclectic cultural snapshot.
Tales of Bengal
S. B. Banerjea
HOOK The shifting fortunes of village life reveal the intimate, often cutthroat, struggles of families navigating colonial bureaucracy, shifting social codes, and the relentless quest for status in Bengal.
Dry fish and wet
Anthon Bernhard Elias Nilsen
In a small Norwegian port where old shipping fortunes slowly fade, every neighbor's public boast conceals a very private, unpredictable ambition.
The curse of gold
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
Out in Piperock, high intentions and flying lead usually collide to prove that enforcing the law is mostly a matter of dodging your own side's bullets.
Tales from "Blackwood," Volume 6
Various
This collection of mid-19th-century magazine fiction captures the varied sensibilities of the Victorian era, moving from cynical accounts of high-society gamblers and roguish undergraduates to somber, atmospheric tales of tragic romance and moral conflict.
The Soul of a Cat, and Other Stories
Margaret Benson
The world of animals is not a collection of mere instincts, but a tapestry of individual souls. By observing the daily lives of cats, dogs, and birds, a clearer understanding of our shared existence emerges.
Over the Sliprails
Henry Lawson
Life in the Australian bush is a relentless, dusty struggle where the landscape dictates the temperament of those who endure it. This collection of stories captures the harsh, sun-scorched reality of the frontier with unvarnished, empathetic clarity.
Studies in love and in terror
Marie Belloc Lowndes
The fragile boundary between a comfortable life and a sudden, violent end is the quiet, haunting focus of these narratives. Human longing, desperation, and the strange courage found in crisis define the core of these tales.
Crowded Out! and Other Sketches
S. Frances (Susie Frances) Harrison
An ambitious artist stakes everything on conquering London, while in the Canadian wilderness and beyond, others navigate the quiet, crushing weight of their own secrets and social expectations.
The Holy Cross and Other Tales
Eugene Field
This collection of prose pieces moves between the whimsical and the deeply mournful, capturing a Victorian sensibility that finds the miraculous hidden within the mundane. It is a work of contrasts, where the sharp edges of human ambition are softened by the persistent, fragile grace of childhood innocence.
Stories by Foreign Authors: Scandinavian
Unknown
These narratives capture the quiet gravity of Scandinavian life, exploring the tension between rigid social codes, the whims of fate, and the persistent human longing for connection and meaning.
A Loose End and Other Stories
S. Elizabeth Hall
The stories in this collection capture the rugged, isolated lives of inhabitants in the Channel Islands and Brittany, weaving together themes of superstition, unspoken grief, and the quiet endurance of the human spirit.
Tales by Polish Authors
Else C. M. (Else Cecilia Mendelssohn) Benecke
A landscape of hardship, exile, and human endurance unfolds across these classic Polish stories translated for an English audience.