Plain Tales from the Hills (Penguin Classics)

First published in 1888,ÊPlain Tales from the HillsÊwas Kipling's first volume of prose fiction. Most of the stories it includes had already appeared in theÊCivil and Military GazetteÊthey were written before he reached the age of 22; and they show a remarkably precocious literary talent. His vignettes of life in Brittish India a hundred years ago give vivid insight into Anglo-India at work and play, into a barrack-room life, and into the character of Indians themselves.