Kim

Kim (1901) by Rudyard Kipling, set in India under the British empire, is Kipling's final and most famous novel. It chronicles the adventures of an Irish orphan named Kim. Kim, a dynamic and spirited person, although Irish, grows up as an indigenous boy. He manages to seamlessly mingle into the many ethnic and religious groups of the Indian subcontinent. He lives independently in the streets and is taken care of by a woman who is a keeper of an opium den. He eventually becomes a follower of a Tibetan monk while learning espionage from the British secret service. The adventures that Kim experiences as a spy, as a follower of the lama, and the effectiveness of Kipling's craftsmanship, make this novel an interesting read.