19 h 31 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In the clubs and barracks of British India, laughter sits close to loneliness, cruelty and fear.
Rudyard Kipling’s Indian Tales gathers short stories drawn from the world of his newspaper work in India. Clubs, railway carriages and hill stations bring soldiers, civil servants, officers’ wives and adventurers into view. In Simla, a small society has time on its hands; in the barracks, ordinary soldiers share talk, friendship and trouble.
Soldiers Three introduces the talkative veteran Mulvaney, sharp-tongued Ortheris and steady Learoyd. In Lispeth, a young woman raised among Christian missionaries has her own ideas about marriage. Elsewhere, children and the uncanny enter the picture. Through humour, tenderness and fear, Kipling shows the Raj’s pride and blind spots, while Indian perspectives remain largely at the edges.
What you’ll discover
- Barracks talk and friendship Meet three soldiers whose different temperaments give their shared troubles a distinct human voice.
- A sharp social world Enter Simla’s small society, where Kipling turns his sharp eye on British hill station life.
- Love against social lines Follow Lispeth’s wishes into a world that tries to decide whom she may love.
- Childhood with serious duties Meet Wee Willie Winkie, a colonel’s small son determined to protect those he cares for.
- An empire’s uneasy portrait Explore pride, boredom and loneliness through a quick, confident voice with its own blind spots.
Who will love it
For readers who love short stories with a strong voice, soldiers’ friendships, ghosts and adventure, and anyone curious about everyday life in British India.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young journalist turns news into stories
- Hill station society is small and sharp
- Three soldiers bring the barracks to life
- Love across the line brings trouble
- Children, ghosts and strange places
- A sharp voice and a divided view of empire
Who’s who
- MulvaneyAn Irish soldier and old campaigner in the British army in India, a great talker who loves a story, a drink and his friends.
- OrtherisA small, sharp-tongued Londoner and private soldier, restless and bitter, who is devoted to his rifle and his two comrades.
- LearoydA big, slow Yorkshireman and private soldier, quiet and steady, who shares barracks life and its troubles with Mulvaney and Ortheris.
- Wee Willie WinkieA small boy, the son of a colonel in an Indian station, who takes his duties very seriously and wants to protect those he cares for.
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Indian Tales
by Rudyard Kipling · 1890
In British India, soldiers, children and adventurers reveal a world of gossip, ghosts and love that breaks social rules.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A young journalist turns news into stories
The tales begin in a newsroom. In the 1880s Kipling worked for the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, a paper written for the British community in northern India. He had to fill space, and he had to do it quickly. That pressure shaped his style. A story had to open fast, make a point, and finish in a few pages.
He was also a restless walker and listener. He spent nights in the city, visited barracks, rode trains and sat in clubs. He heard gossip, confessions, jokes and ghost stories, and he turned them into fiction. Many of his first collections were printed cheaply and sold at railway bookstalls, so they were meant to be read on a journey.
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What is Indian Tales by Rudyard Kipling about?
It is a collection of short stories set in British India. They cover hill station society, soldiers in barracks, love across racial lines, children, ghosts and adventurers, all seen through Kipling's quick and observant voice.
When did Kipling write his Indian stories?
Kipling wrote most of them in the 1880s and early 1890s, while working as a journalist in Lahore and Allahabad. Many first appeared in newspapers and in small paperback collections sold at railway stations.
Who are Mulvaney, Ortheris and Learoyd?
They are three private soldiers in a British regiment in India, from Ireland, London and Yorkshire. Kipling made them the heart of the Soldiers Three stories, which show barracks life with humour and rough affection.
The author
Rudyard Kipling
1865–1936 · English novelist and poet
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) was an English writer and poet born in Bombay, India. He lived in India, England and the United States. He wrote The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), Kim (1901) and Just So Stories (1902). He died in London in 1936.
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