‘Some people say that there is no romance in India. Those people are wrong. Our
lives hold quite as much romance as is good for us.’
Rudyard Kipling’s first and best-known collection of short stories, Plain Tales from the
Hills is a colourful and intricate depiction of life in India during the British Raj.
This collection, which brilliantly showcases Kipling’s inimitable style, includes ‘Miss
Youghal’s Sais’, a tale of an impossible love, ‘In the House of Suddhoo’, in which
black magic is used to deceive an old man, and ‘Pig’, in which vengeance takes an
unusual, epistolary form.
Humorous, occasionally tragic, these stories provide a unique perspective on the
society of the times, particularly the apprehensions with which the races and classes
approached each other.