The orphan boy Kim leads a vagabond life in India during the 1890s. Without any clues about his own origins, he decides to accompany a Buddhist lama on his lifelong quest. On the Grand Trunk Road, where East and West, social and religious contrasts collide, he encounters disputing Anglican and Catholic clergy, meets a cunning horse dealer and a wealthy widow, and comes into contact with British agents. But then Kim, "friend of the world," is to be used as a spy himself. Andreas Nohl has newly translated Kipling's coming-of-age novel, thereby assigning it a prominent place in the literary canon in this country as well.