Overview
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in 1865 and spent his early years there, before being sent to England at the age of six, where he was desperately unhappy. Charles Allen's great-grandfather brought the sixteen-year-old Kipling back to India to work on The Civil and Military Gazette, and thus began young Rudyard's literary career.He arrived in Bombay on October 18, 1882—"a prince entering his kingdom"—and for the next seven years, his writing established him as a popular and critical, though sometimes controversial, success. Allen has written a brilliant account of these formative years—as a child in India, his unhappy years in England, and his coming of age back "home" in Bombay. In this tale of family and Empire, Allen traces the Indian experiences of Kipling's parents, Lockwood and Alice, and reveals what kind of culture the young writer was born into and how it would shape his life and writing over the next twenty years.
Synopsis
The first biography of Kipling's younger years: his Indian childhood, abandonment in England, and coming of age as a writer.
Gina Kaiser - Library Journal
Allen, who has written many books on India and spent his formative years there, covers the first half of Kipling's life and explains it within the context of the British presence in India. Kipling came from an artistic family but one that was not part of the ruling class; they were always considered outsiders. He compensated by becoming a great reader and observer. When given the opportunity to work on an Anglo-Indian newspaper in India, he made the most of it. Not only did he report on the doings of British society in India, but he also explored the common man, both British and Indian. In doing so, he did not endear himself, but he did get people thinking. His time in India provided him with the material for many short stories and verses as well as his novel Kim. This is a balanced account, with full disclosure of Kipling's weaknesses and his propensity for reworking the truth in his stories. One gets a good sense of the milieu in India in which he operated, and, like his biographer, one admires his pluck. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.
Editorials
Library Journal
Allen, who has written many books on India and spent his formative years there, covers the first half of Kipling's life and explains it within the context of the British presence in India. Kipling came from an artistic family but one that was not part of the ruling class; they were always considered outsiders. He compensated by becoming a great reader and observer. When given the opportunity to work on an Anglo-Indian newspaper in India, he made the most of it. Not only did he report on the doings of British society in India, but he also explored the common man, both British and Indian. In doing so, he did not endear himself, but he did get people thinking. His time in India provided him with the material for many short stories and verses as well as his novel Kim. This is a balanced account, with full disclosure of Kipling's weaknesses and his propensity for reworking the truth in his stories. One gets a good sense of the milieu in India in which he operated, and, like his biographer, one admires his pluck. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.
—Gina Kaiser