Book description
To mark the publication of Stop What You're Doing and Read
This!, a collection of essays celebrating reading, Vintage
Classics are releasing 12 limited edition themed ebook 'bundles', to
tempt readers to discover and rediscover great books.
JUST SO STORIES
INTRODUCED BY PHILIP PULLMAN
Have you ever wondered how the leopard got his spots? Or how the
camel got his hump? Rudyard Kipling's witty and beautifully written
stories explain these secrets and many more and introduce such
memorable characters as the Elephant's Child, the Cat that Walked by
Himself and the Butterfly that Stamped.
MOONFLEET
Orphaned John Trenchard grows up in the village of Moonfleet with
his aunt, entranced by the local legend of the ghostly Blackbeard, who
rises each winter night to search for his lost diamond. While
conducting his own hunt for the treasure, John is trapped in the
church crypt and discovers the true secret of the village: smuggling.
Taken under the wing of the gruff innkeeper and chief smuggler,
Elzevir Block, John begins a dangerous adventure which will see him in
a hair-raising chase along a precarious cliff path and deciphering a
hidden code in an ancient castle. Moonfleet is thrilling story
of revenge and betrayal, of loyalty and great sacrifice, but it is
above all a story about friendship..
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in India on 30 December
1865. He was sent back to England when he was seven years old but
returned to India in 1882 to work as the assistant editor of the Civil
& Military Gazette in Lahore. He published poetry and stories in
newspapers but it was the publication of Plain Tales from the
Hills in 1888 that brought him his first major success. His most
famous works are Barrack-room Ballads (1892), The Jungle Book
(1894), Kim (1901), and Just So Stories (1902). The
Just So Stories were written for his children and are addressed to his
six-year-old daughter Josephine, his 'best beloved', who died of
pneumonia in 1899. Rudyard Kipling died on 18 January 1936.
John Meade Falkner was born in Wiltshire in 1858. He worked
as a teacher at Derby school, and climbed through the ranks of a large
Newcastle arms manufacturer to become its director in 1901, after
working for the company founder as his family's tutor for many years.
After retiring in 1926, Falkner became honorary librarian to the dean
and chapter of Durham Cathedral. He wrote three novels including
Moonfleet (1898), as well as publishing a volume of poetry
(Poems, 1933) and a pocket history of Oxfordshire. J. Meade
Falkner died on July 22, 1932.
