"Kim" is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling. Kim (Kimball O'Hara) is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier and a poor Irish mother who have both died in poverty. Living a vagabond existence 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. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India. The author Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist.