Limits and Renewals, Kipling's last collection of short stories, was written shortly after the death of his only son. Dark and penetrating in tone, these are brilliant portraits of a soul in torment with some welcome relief coming in the tales of 'Aunt Ellen' and 'The Miracle of Saint Jubanus'.

Rudyard Kipling: A great Victorian, a great writer of Empire, a great man. Rudyard Kipling was one of the most popular writers of prose and poetry in the late 19th and 20th Century and awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 1907. Born in Bombay on 30th December 1865, as was the custom in those days, he and his sister were sent back to England when he was 5. The ill-treatment and cruelty by the couple who they boarded with in Portsmouth, Kipling himself suggested, contributed to the onset of his literary life. This was further enhanced by his return to India at age 16 to work on a local paper, as not only did this result in him writing constantly but also made him explore issues of identity and national allegiance which pervade much of his work. Whilst he is best remembered for his classic children's stories and his popular poem 'If...' he is also regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story.

This is a study of the forces and influences that shaped Kipling's work, including his unusual family background, his role as the laureate of empire and the deaths of two of his children, and of his complex relations with a literary world that first embraced and then rejected him.

Puck, the last of the People of the Hills and "the oldest thing in England", charms the children Dan and Una with a collection of tales and visitors out of England's past.

Rudyard Kipling was an English short-story writer, novelist and poet, remembered for his celebration of British imperialism and heroism in India and Burma. Kipling was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (1907). His most popular works include The Jungle Book (1894) and The Just So Stories (1902), a collection of tales about how animals came to be the way they are today, also The Day's Work, a novel (1898). Book jacket.

'The Camel's Hump', 'The Cat That Walked By Himself' and 'The White Seal' are just some of the enchanting tales collected together in Animal Stories, which also includes 'Rikki-tikki-tavi'. Originally intended for children, these imaginative and inspired writings are just as suitable for adults and will delight readers of all ages.