Om Illustrated Classics: Kim

Kim is a novel penned by Nobel Prize winning English author, Rudyard Kipling. The story unfolds against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. Kim (Kimball O'Hara) is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier and a poor Irish mother who have both died in poverty. Living as a vagabond in India under British rule in the late 19th century, Kim earns his living by begging and running small errands on the streets of Lahore. He occasionally works for Mahbub Ali, a Pashtun horse trader and one of the native operatives of the British secret service, where Kim is also recruited. Kim's friendship with a Tibetan lama and his influence over Kim's life, forms an integral part of the novel.