Rudyard Kipling - Puck of Pook's Hill: "I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble"

Kipling's experiences of childhood trauma and cultural displacement shaped his literary career, leading him to explore themes of identity and national allegiance. His early life in India and subsequent return to England influenced his writing style and subject matter. Renowned for his children's stories and the poem "If...", he is also celebrated as a pioneering short story innovator. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907, Kipling remains a significant figure in Victorian literature, reflecting the complexities of the British Empire in his works.