Plot Summary Library

Explore thousands of classic and contemporary titles in a quick-read format. SuperSummary Plot Summaries feature a full synopsis to guide you through key plot points. Browse titles alphabetically or by genre.

There’s more! Find comprehensive chapter-by-chapter summaries and in-depth analyses on over 10,000 more titles in our Study Guide Library.

All TitlesModern FictionClassic FictionNonfictionPlaysEssaysPoetryMiddle Grade/YA
Bitter Fruit
Achmat Dangor

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2001

Shakespeare Saved My Life
Laura Bates

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2013

Nine Lives
William Dalrymple

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009

Infidel
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2007

The Berlin Wall
Frederick Taylor

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006

The Beatles
Bob Spitz

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2005

Ghosts of Mississippi
Maryanne Vollers

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2011

The Soul of a New Machine
Tracy Kidder

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1981

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
Ross King

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

A Problem from Hell
Samantha Power

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

The Third Chimpanzee
Jared Diamond

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1991

The Body Project
Joan Jacobs Brumberg

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1997

Life and Death in Shanghai
Nien Cheng

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1986

The Meaning of Human Existence
Edward O. Wilson

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

City of Thorns
Ben Rawlence

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

The House at Sugar Beach
Helene Cooper

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2008

Hellhound on His Trail
Hampton Sides

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2010

The Fiery Trial
Eric Foner

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2010

The Places in Between
Rory Stewart

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2004

Reinventing Government
Ted Gaebler, David Osborne

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1992

Will in the World
Stephen Greenblatt

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2004

The Universe in a Nutshell
Stephen Hawking

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2001

What I Know For Sure
Oprah Winfrey

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

The Butterfly Mosque
G. Willow Wilson

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2010

Expecting Adam
Martha Beck

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1999

The Journalist and the Murderer
Janet Malcolm

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1990

Marxism and Literature
Raymond Williams

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1977

Playing for Time
Fania Fenelon

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1976

Turn Right at Machu Picchu
Mark Adams

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2011

My Life and Hard Times
James Thurber

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1933

The Korean War
Bruce Cumings

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010

90 Minutes in Heaven
Don Piper, Cecil Murphey

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2004

The World Until Yesterday
Jared Diamond

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2012

Valiant Ambition
Nathaniel Philbrick

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2016

Poor Richard's Almanack
Benjamin Franklin

Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 1732

The Last American Man
Elizabeth Gilbert

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2002

Barefoot Heart
Elva Trevino Hart

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1999

The Divide
Matt Taibbi

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

The Privilege of Youth
Dave Pelzer

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1999

The Universe in a Single Atom
Dalai Lama

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

A Pearl in the Storm
Tori Murden McClure

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2009

The Murder of the Century
Paul Collins

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2011

Young Men and Fire
Norman Maclean

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1992

The Path Between the Seas
David McCullough

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1977

When and Where I Enter
Paula Giddings

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1984

Life on the Outside
Jennifer Gonnerman

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2004

Maximum City
Suketu Mehta

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2004

Wesley the Owl
Stacey O'Brien

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2008

The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit
Lucette Lagnado

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2007

The Accidental Asian
Eric Liu

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1998

Slavery and Social Death
Orlando Patterson

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1982

A Crime So Monstrous
E. Benjamin Skinner

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2008

When the Rivers Run Dry
Fred Pearce

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006

A Nation Under Our Feet
Steven Hahn

Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 2003

We Band of Angels
Elizabeth M. Norman

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1999

The Most Human Human
Brian Christian

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2011

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments
Roland Barthes

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1977

How We Die
Sherwin B. Nuland

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1994

Age of Ambition
Evan Osnos

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

Laxdaela Saga
Anonymous

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1245

The Passion of Artemisia
Susan Vreeland

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2002

Black, White, and Jewish
Rebecca Walker

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2000

The Quartet
Joseph J. Ellis

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2015

In The Belly Of The Beast
Jack Abbott

Nonfiction | Collection of Letters | Adult | Published in 1981

Season Of The Witch
David Talbot

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2012

Legacy Of Ashes
Tim Weiner

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2007

Against All Enemies
Richard A. Clarke

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2004

Who Killed My Daughter
Lois Duncan

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1992

In The Realm of a Dying Emperor
Norma Field

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1991

Why Gender Matters
Leonard Sax

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

A Serious Proposal To The Ladies
Mary Astell

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1694

Grace, Gold and Glory
Gabrielle Douglas, Michelle Burford

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2012

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me
Jennifer Teege

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2013

The Little School
Alicia Partnoy

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1986

Wine To Water
Doc Hendley

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2007

Asian American Dreams
Helen Zia

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2000

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2010

Two Lives
Vikram Seth

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2005

Lay Bare the Heart
James Farmer

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1998

In the Presence of my Enemies
Gracia Burnham

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2003

The Diligent
Robert W. Harms

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1977

Weaving the Web
Tim Berners-Lee

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1999

When We Were the Kennedys
Monica Wood

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2012

On Gold Mountain
Lisa See

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1995

The War That Ended Peace
Margaret MacMillan

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2013

Townie
Andre Dubus III

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2011

One Shot at Forever
Chris Ballard

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2012

Fiasco
Thomas E. Ricks

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006

Little Heathens
Mildred Armstrong Kalish

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2007

I Hate Myselfie
Shane Dawson

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2015

No Stone Unturned
Steve Jackson

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

God's Hotel
Victoria Sweet

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2012

The Looming Tower
Lawrence Wright

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006

Soldier Girls
Helen Thorpe

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

Charlie Wilson's War
George Crile

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2003

One Child
Torey Hayden

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1980

My Own Country
Abraham Verghese

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1994

Gorillas in the Mist
Dian Fossey

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1983

Loaves and Fishes
Dorothy Day

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1936

A Year in Provence
Peter Mayle

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1990