First published in 1888, ‘Plain Tales from the Hills’ was Kipling’s first volume of prose fiction. Most of the stories it includes had already appeared in the
Civil and Military Gazette and they were written before Kipling reached the age of 22, showing already a remarkably precocious literary talent. 
This vignettes of life in British India a hundred years ago give vivid insight into Anglo-India at work and play, into a barrack-room life, and into the character of Indians themselves.