The Essential Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in 1865 to parents who classed themselves as ‘Anglo-Indians’. India would have a prominent and lasting influence on his life and writing. Although he was educated at boarding school in Britain and made editor of the school magazine, Kipling never attended University. Instead, in October 1881 he rejoined his parents in Lahore, India, and began work as assistant editor at the Civil and Military Gazette; an English language newspaper read by the British in northern India. It was to prove the beginning of a very successful literary career. 29 of the 40 stories published in 1888 as Plain Tales from the Hills were originally featured in the Gazette. Later, many of these characters would also appear in his famous novel Kim. Published in 1901 it tells the adventurous story of an Irish orphan who makes his own way in India against the backdrop of The Great Game - the political conflict between Russia and Britain played out in Central Asia.