Kim is a story of an orphan in India (the part that is now Pakistan) in the late 1800s. Kim is the son of an Irish soldier raised by locals, familiar with the customs and languages of the Hindus and Muslims of the area who gets recruited by the British to spy for them. Kim acts as a guide for a Tibetan Buddhist priest who is on a quest in India, broadening his knowledge of the cultures of his world and giving him an excuse to travel even further. He comes upon his father's regiment, and the officers of the regiment arrange for Kim to attend a 'proper' British school. Throughout the story, a British spymaster is helping Kim receive an education and arranging for Kim to carry messages and run small but important tasks for him. Kipling's passion for the land he was raised in and his love for the people he was raised with is unmistakable. The language of the book is a little hard to follow, between regional words and the English of the time, but a patient and persistant reader will find the effort rewarded.
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