The Man Who Would Be King

Author: Rudyard Kipling

'They tell me that one never sees a dead person's face in a dream. Is that true?'

Rudyard Kipling is one of the most magical storytellers in the English language. This new selection brings together the best of his short writings, following the development of his work over fifty years. They take us from the harsh, cruel, vividly realized world of the 'Indian' stories that made his name, through the experimental modernism of his middle period to the highly-wrought subtleties of his later pieces. Including the tale of insanity and empire, 'The Man Who Would Be King', the high-spirited 'The Village that Voted the Earth Was Flat', the fable of childhood cruelty and revenge 'Baa Baa, Black Sheep', the menacing psychological study 'Mary Postgate' and the ambiguous portrayal of grief and mourning in 'The Gardener', here are stories of criminals, ghosts, femmes fatales, madness and murder.

Part of a series of new editions of Kipling's works in Penguin Classics, this volume contains a General Preface by Jan Montefiore and an introduction discussing Kipling's reputation and influence, the ambivalence of his writing and the fascination with 'otherness' expressed in his short works.

Edited with an introduction by JAN MONTEFIORE
Series Editor JAN MONTEFIORE

Also by Rudyard Kipling

Book Cover:  Selected Stories
By Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling is undoubtedly one of the great short-story writers in the English language. This collection opens with 'The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows', the first story Kipling published as a young journalist in India, and ends with an acknowledged masterpiece, 'The Gardener', written fifty years later in the aftermah of the Great War.
Rudyard Kipling is undoubtedly one of the great short-story writers in the English language. This collection opens with 'The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows', the first story Kipling published as a young journalist...
Published: 31/01/2002
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780141186757
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover: The Jungle Book: Popular Penguins

Mowgli, the man-cub who is brought up by wolves in the jungles of Central India, is one of the greatest literary myths ever created. As he embarks on a series of thrilling escapades, Mowgli encounters such unforgettable creatures as Bagheera, the graceful black panther, and Shere Khan, the tiger with the blazing eyes. A rich and complex fable of human life, Kipling's enduring classic dazzles the imagination...

Mowgli, the man-cub who is brought up by wolves in the jungles of Central India, is one of the greatest literary myths ever created. As he embarks on a series of thrilling escapades, Mowgli encounters...

Published: 28/06/2010
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780141333427
RRP: $9.95
Book Cover:  Kim
By Rudyard Kipling

Explore India with Kim, a boy with both East and West in his soul . . .

Orphan boy Kim is reared in the teeming, vibrant streets of India at the turn of the last century.  An impish child with an endless interest in the extraordinary characters he meets, Kim is a 'Friend of all the World'.  One day, an old Tibetan lama sets him on the path that will lead him to travel the Great Trunk Road...

Explore India with Kim, a boy with both East and West in his soul . . .

Orphan boy Kim is reared in the teeming, vibrant streets of India at the turn of the last century.  An impish child with an...

Published: 12/08/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780141332505
RRP: $9.95
Book Cover:  Captains Courageous
Harvey Cheyne is the over-indulged son of a millionaire. When he falls overboard from an ocean liner he is rescued by a Portuguese fisherman and, initially against his will, joins the crew. Through the medium of an exciting adventure story, Captains Courageous (1897) deals with a boy who, like Mowgli in The Jungle Book , is thrown into an entirely alien environment.
Harvey Cheyne is the over-indulged son of a millionaire. When he falls overboard from an ocean liner he is rescued by a Portuguese fisherman and, initially against his will, joins the crew. Through the...
Published: 16/09/2005
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780142437711
RRP: $9.95
Book Cover:  Kim
By Rudyard Kipling

'Kim told the older children tales of the size and beauty of Lahore, of railway travel, and such-like city things, while the men talked, slowly as the cattle chew the cud'

'Kim told the older children tales of the size and beauty of Lahore, of railway travel, and such-like city things, while the men talked, slowly as the cattle chew the cud'

Published: 06/07/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780141442372
RRP: $9.95
Book Cover:  Selected Poems
By Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) is often regarded as the unofficial Laureate of the British Empire. Yet his writing reveals a ferociously independent figure at times violently opposed to the dominant political and literary tendencies of his age.  Arranged in chronological order, this diverse selection of his poetry shows the development of Kipling's talent, his deepening maturity and the growing sombreness...

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) is often regarded as the unofficial Laureate of the British Empire. Yet his writing reveals a ferociously independent figure at times violently opposed to the dominant political...

Published: 05/06/2001
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780140424317
RRP: $9.95
Book Cover:  Plain Tales from the Hills
By Rudyard Kipling

'You are all liars, you English'

'You are all liars, you English'

Published: 09/06/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780141442396
RRP: $9.95
Book Cover:  Just So Stories
 Among Kipling's most loved works, the Just So Stories have been continually in print since 1902.
 Among Kipling's most loved works, the Just So Stories have been continually in print since 1902.
Published: 09/06/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780141442402
RRP: $9.95
Published:09/06/2011
Format:Paperback, 588 pages
RRP:$9.95
ISBN-13:9780141442358
ISBN-10:0141442352
Publisher:Penguin UK

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25 May 2012
Australian Society of Authors 2012 Barbara Jefferis Award - winner

All That I Am by Anna Funder has won the Barbara Jefferis Award.

The award is offered annually for “the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society”.

Anna beat fellow Miles Franklin contenders Foal's Bread and Cold Light.

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