Below are links to free vintage novels, mostly published from the mid-1800s to 1923. They include bestsellers in a range of genres. This page is one of 10 containing links to 300+ novels. Use the Vintage Novels Directory to access the other 9 pages.
Vintage Novels Directory
Authors W, X, Y & Z
Ben-Hur
Audio Book
Wallace, Lewis (1827-1905)
A novel of the first century. Its hero, Judah Ben Hur, a young aristocrat sentenced to the galleys, eventually becomes a Christian. Its many stirring scenes make it a permanent favorite.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
See also: Wallace, Lewis, Lew Wallace: an Autobiography in Biographies & Memoirs in Indiana History
The Duchess of Wrexe; her Decline and Death – a Romantic Commentary
Walpole Hugh (1884-1941)
The conflict between conservatism and the newer ideals of freedom is embodied in the study of two personalities, an autocratic duchess and her rebellious granddaughter.
— Bacon, Corinne, compiler, Standard Catalog: Fiction Section (1923)
Lady Rose’s Daughter
Audio Book
Ward, Mary Augusta (1851-1920)
A novel of manners in which several celebrities of the period seem to be sketched in the characters. The story of Lady Delafield and Julie Le Breton corresponds, save in the denouement, with the famous episode of Mme. du Deffand and Mlle. de Lespinasse.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
The World’s Illusion
Volume 2
Wasserman, Jacob (1873-1934)
Written by a Viennese novelist during the war. A picture of pre-war society in central Europe, a brilliant, feverish picture of a society in the first hectic stages of decay, resting on insecure foundations of poverty, misery and crime. A work of strange and somber power.
— Bacon, Corinne, compiler, Standard Catalog: Fiction Section (1923)
The Boardman Family
Watts, Mary (1868-1958)
Well-written, leisurely novel with a Cincinnati and New York City background. Rebellious Alexandra Boardman, who becomes ‘Sandra,’ a noted dancer, discovers the wordlessness and ugliness of snobbery, the beauty and value of traditional standards.
— Bacon, Corinne, compiler, Standard Catalog: Fiction Section (1923)
War of the Worlds
Audio Book
Wells, Herbert George (1866-1946)
One of his earlier imaginary scientific romances picturing the Martians in an attack on England.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
A Marriage Under the Terror
Wentworth, Patricia (1878-1961)
An exciting, well-constructed tale of the French Revolution, which tells of a young republican who marries a girl of aristocratic family to save her life, and of the complications which ensue.
— Bacon, Corinne, compiler, Standard Catalog: Fiction Section (1923)
Return of the Soldier
Audio Book
West, Rebecca (1892-1983)
Using the instance of a shell-shocked soldier, the author works out with great skill a situation involving one of the accepted Freudian theories. A young Englishman forgets the fifteen years before the war, unconsciously repudiating his wife and seeking refuge in the homely realities represented by his first love.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
My Lady Rotha; a Romance
Weyman, Stanley John (1855-1928)
Opens in Thuringia during the thirty years’ war. Descriptions of strife and adventure that portray the hideous devastation and demoralization of Germany overrun by mercenaries and thieves.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1904
Age of Innocence
Audio Book
Wharton, Mrs. Edith Newbold Jones (1862-1937)
A picture of New York society in the seventies, more particularly the story of Newland Archer, who hadn’t quite the courage to break with the conventions of his day. A most artistic study of the period.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
Gold
White, Stewart Edward (1873-1946)
The first of a trilogy designed to reproduce California in three stages; this the time of the forty-niners, the excitement of gold, Indians, pioneering.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
The Silent Places
White, Stewart Edward (1873-1946)
1867-69. The journey of two servants of the Hudson Bay Company into the northern wilds. Brings vividly before the imagination what appalling hardships and what feats of endurance the old fur-traders were called upon to face as part of the day’s work; and shows, with no little art, the effect such experiences had upon a man’s nature.
— Baker, E. A., A Guide to Historical Fiction (1914)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Audio Book
Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith (1857-1923)
Delightfully humorous story of a little girl from a large happy-go-lucky family taken into the prim household of two maiden aunts where her very natural little-girl conduct often arouses consternation.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
Picture of Dorian Gray
Audio Book
Wilde, Oscar Fingall O’Flahertie Wills (1856-1900)
An almost allegorical story, founded on the conceit of a picture which changes and ages while its original remains beautiful and young throughout a career of sensuality. Witty, with many lines that are repeated in the author’s plays.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
The Lightning Conductor; the Strange Adventures of a Motor-Car
Williamson, Charles Norris (1859-1920)
Automobile travel sketch, threaded about a plot of love-making. Tour through French chateux country to Bordeaux, skirting the Pyrenees, through the Riviera and Italy to Sicily.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1904
The Boss of Little Arcady
Wilson, Harry Leon (1867-1939)
Story of a village in the Middle West, just after the Civil war, which came under the influence of several interesting characters, each of whom was recognized as ‘boss.’
— Bacon, Corinne, compiler, Standard Catalog: Fiction Section (1923)
The Law and the Letter: a Story of the Province of Louisiana
Winn, Mary Polk and Hannis, Margaret
1760s? Of the days when marriageable girls were exported to New Orleans to be awarded by the Ursuline nuns to the French soldiers.
— Baker, E. A., A Guide to Historical Fiction (1914)
The Virginian; a Horseman of the Plains
Audio Book
Wister, Owen (1860-1938)
A capital study of the best type of western cowboy, intrepid, level-headed, accustomed to rough living, but right hearted and deserving a good woman’s love.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
Anne
Woolson, Constance Fenimore (1838-1894)
Traces the fortunes of Anne Douglas, a young orphan of strong impulses, fine character and high devotion to duty. Scenes laid on Mackinac Island and in New York.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
Stories of Red Hanrahan, The Secret Rose, Rosa Alchemica
Yeats, William Butler (1865-1939)
Prose tales conceived with the sensitiveness to be expected of this poet.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
Children of the Ghetto; a Study of a Peculiar People
Audio Book
Zangwill, Israel (1864-1926)
Scenes in life of London Jews, poor and rich, connected by a thread of narrative; copious in detail and in traits of character; gives ideas and ways of thinking, as well as ceremonial and external features.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1904
The Downfall
Zola, Emile (1840-1902)
A naturalistic account of the disastrous campaign that ended in Sedan as it was seen and endured by two private soldiers.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926