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Rudyard Kipling: The Complete Novels and Stories
This book contains the complete novels and stories of Rudyard Kipling in the chronological order of their original publication.
- Plain Tales from the Hills (a collection of 40 short stories)
- Soldiers Three (a collection of 9 short stories)
- The Story of the Gadsbys (a collection of 8 short stories)
- In Black and White (a collection of 8 short stories)
- Under the Deodars (a collection of 8 short stories)
- The Phantom Rickshaw and other Tales (a collection of 4 short stories)
- Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories (a collection of 4 short stories)
- Life's Handicap (a collection of 27 short stories)
- The Light That Failed (a novel)
- The Naulahka: A Story of West and East (a novel)
- Many Inventions (a collection of 14 short stories)
- The Jungle Book (a collection of 7 short stories)
- The Second Jungle Book (a collection of 8 short stories)
- Captains Courageous (a novel)
- The Day's Work (a collection of 13 short stories)
- Stalky & Co. (a collection of 9 short stories)
- Kim (a novel)
- Just So Stories for Little Children (a collection of 13 short stories)
- Traffics and Discoveries (a collection of 11 short stories)
- Puck of Pook's Hill (a collection of 10 short stories)
- Actions and Reactions (a collection of 8 short stories)
- Rewards and Fairies (a collection of 11 short stories)
- A Diversity of Creatures (a collection of 14 short stories)
- The Eyes of Asia (a collection of 4 short stories)
- Plain Tales from the Hills (a collection of 40 short stories)
- Soldiers Three (a collection of 9 short stories)
- The Story of the Gadsbys (a collection of 8 short stories)
- In Black and White (a collection of 8 short stories)
- Under the Deodars (a collection of 8 short stories)
- The Phantom Rickshaw and other Tales (a collection of 4 short stories)
- Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories (a collection of 4 short stories)
- Life's Handicap (a collection of 27 short stories)
- The Light That Failed (a novel)
- The Naulahka: A Story of West and East (a novel)
- Many Inventions (a collection of 14 short stories)
- The Jungle Book (a collection of 7 short stories)
- The Second Jungle Book (a collection of 8 short stories)
- Captains Courageous (a novel)
- The Day's Work (a collection of 13 short stories)
- Stalky & Co. (a collection of 9 short stories)
- Kim (a novel)
- Just So Stories for Little Children (a collection of 13 short stories)
- Traffics and Discoveries (a collection of 11 short stories)
- Puck of Pook's Hill (a collection of 10 short stories)
- Actions and Reactions (a collection of 8 short stories)
- Rewards and Fairies (a collection of 11 short stories)
- A Diversity of Creatures (a collection of 14 short stories)
- The Eyes of Asia (a collection of 4 short stories)
2254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 18, 2020
About the author
Rudyard Kipling
7,721 books3,856 followersJoseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 12, 2024
I went to the library to get this, but the librarian had to ask how to spell his name & had never heard of him. That was so disquieting for me! Kipling is a classic. I read "KIM" only, but what a pleasure despite the archaic viewpoints sometimes expressed. That was then. We have to remember things can and do and have changed.
August 25, 2026
Difficult to read..,
Initial stories in book of short stories on army life..
Later read only a few others..
“The Finest Story in the World,”
A writer discovers that an ordinary young man unknowingly remembers his previous lives and could provide the greatest story ever written—but when the young man falls in love, the past disappears, leaving that greatest story forever untold.
We may carry traces of earlier lives within us, but forgetting them allows us to live and love fully in the present. Charlie’s new love closes the door to his old lives—and in doing so destroys the greatest story the narrator could ever have written.
“Were this not so, our world would be without inhabitants in a hundred years.”
“the Lords of Life and Death shut the doors so carefully behind us. It is that we may not remember our first and most beautiful wooings.”
Yes! Satyajit Ray’s Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress, 1974) is an excellent connection. Sonar Kella
Mukul, the little boy in Sonar Kella, apparently remembers fragments of a previous life in Rajasthan—a golden fortress, peacocks, camels and other images. Dr. Hajra becomes interested precisely because these memories seem to concern things the child shouldn’t ordinarily know.
That’s remarkably close to Kipling’s idea with Charlie Mears: fragmentary memories emerge spontaneously; the person experiencing them doesn’t fully comprehend their significance; but an educated observer recognizes that they may represent another life.
There is an interesting difference, though. Ray turns the idea into a mystery/adventure, with Feluda investigating what is actually behind Mukul’s memories. Kipling makes it more philosophical and literary: Charlie’s past-life memories could reveal an otherwise inaccessible ancient world, but ordinary present-day life—particularly falling in love—eventually closes that window.
And there’s another connection you may appreciate: Ray was deeply familiar with English literature, and Sonar Kella was based on his own 1971 Feluda novel. Whether Kipling’s story specifically influenced Ray is a different question; I wouldn’t assume it without evidence. But the similarity in the central device is striking.
— “Wireless” is considerably harder to follow than “The Finest Story in the World,” largely because Kipling expects the reader to recognize John Keats and his poetry. The key to understanding it is Mr. Shaynor.
Initial stories in book of short stories on army life..
Later read only a few others..
“The Finest Story in the World,”
A writer discovers that an ordinary young man unknowingly remembers his previous lives and could provide the greatest story ever written—but when the young man falls in love, the past disappears, leaving that greatest story forever untold.
We may carry traces of earlier lives within us, but forgetting them allows us to live and love fully in the present. Charlie’s new love closes the door to his old lives—and in doing so destroys the greatest story the narrator could ever have written.
“Were this not so, our world would be without inhabitants in a hundred years.”
“the Lords of Life and Death shut the doors so carefully behind us. It is that we may not remember our first and most beautiful wooings.”
Yes! Satyajit Ray’s Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress, 1974) is an excellent connection. Sonar Kella
Mukul, the little boy in Sonar Kella, apparently remembers fragments of a previous life in Rajasthan—a golden fortress, peacocks, camels and other images. Dr. Hajra becomes interested precisely because these memories seem to concern things the child shouldn’t ordinarily know.
That’s remarkably close to Kipling’s idea with Charlie Mears: fragmentary memories emerge spontaneously; the person experiencing them doesn’t fully comprehend their significance; but an educated observer recognizes that they may represent another life.
There is an interesting difference, though. Ray turns the idea into a mystery/adventure, with Feluda investigating what is actually behind Mukul’s memories. Kipling makes it more philosophical and literary: Charlie’s past-life memories could reveal an otherwise inaccessible ancient world, but ordinary present-day life—particularly falling in love—eventually closes that window.
And there’s another connection you may appreciate: Ray was deeply familiar with English literature, and Sonar Kella was based on his own 1971 Feluda novel. Whether Kipling’s story specifically influenced Ray is a different question; I wouldn’t assume it without evidence. But the similarity in the central device is striking.
— “Wireless” is considerably harder to follow than “The Finest Story in the World,” largely because Kipling expects the reader to recognize John Keats and his poetry. The key to understanding it is Mr. Shaynor.
February 1, 2019
I was not aware of Kipling’s short stories. And they are brilliant. They are beautifully crafted, with not a word wasted. Ending short stories is difficult. Kipling’s endings are the best I’ve read since James Joyce. The background is mostly India and Britain. And the characters are from there too. Some stories are exotic while others are mundane. There are some WW1 stories set in British villages that are brilliant.
August 5, 2019
Had to fill this blank in my readings!
August 9, 2020
I love this book
India as seem through the mind of an Egloshman raised there. India when the English were the good guys. Building bridges, trains and European technology.
India as seem through the mind of an Egloshman raised there. India when the English were the good guys. Building bridges, trains and European technology.
May 2, 2023
The Judgment of Dungara
January 16, 2019
This author had such talent in writing. I downloaded this book specifically to read some of the stories to my grandchildren, aged 8 and 6. They enjoyed it as much as their dad did when I read it to my children 30 years ago. The best part is, I found stories I had not read before that I will enjoy on my own! This book has Kipling's complete works in it. Enjoy!
July 29, 2019
I teach Reading Intervention, so I read this looking for classroom reads. It is a classic. It is difficult to understand. The language is old fashioned and formal. Kids need a great deal of background knowledge to understand it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews