Plain Tales from the Hills

By: Rudyard Kipling

Narrated by: Martin Jarvis

An intimate, evocative, often funny, and always vital portrait of India at the peak of the British Raj. Written at the age of 22, they immediately show Kipling's natural and prodigious talent. Timeless, they can be listened to forever.Public Domain (P)2005 CSA Telltapes Ltd

Kipling's first book presented by the ideal reader

Plain Tales from the Hills was a sensation when it was published, and it changed the way English-speaking writers would approach the short story forever. Whether or not they are interested in the doings of the British in India more than a century ago, listeners will be delighted by Kipling's insight into the ways of men and women, his wit, and his language.

Gentle irony

Bittersweet tales of life in Victorian India centred on the hill town of Simla. Each story of human frailty, of life under the British Raj, of the machinations of its public official, of the long suffering Indian subjects is crafted with ironic affection and polished till it glows. The attitudes are colonial and imperialist but the characters come alive as if they lived in the 21st century. Martin Jarvis narration is gentle and flawless. I will listen to this again and again

Flashes of domesticity from a grand past

Having just listened to a long history of the British Empire where Kipling was extensively quoted I had to listen to some Kipling. I was pleasantly surprised - these were short stories and Kipling was able to paint a picture with just a few words and you were taken back to the Hill Station of Simla in the British Raj. It was the summer seat of government but it was also where the british went to stay cool. Most of these stories were vignettes of domestic life, petty arguments, minor accomplishments but told in a way that you could taste the dust and smell the faint curry smells.

I enjoyed them and plan to find some more Kipling but it is something that would wear thin rather quickly. One can only take so much of a stiff upper lip and a solar topee.