Kipling's Choice

As a young man, Rudyard Kipling was devastated when his military application was rejected because of poor eyesight. Although Rudyard would go on to win England’s highest accolades, he never got over this lost opportunity to serve his country.

When World War I broke out, John, like his father before him, wanted to fight for his country. When his military application was threatened for the same reason as his father’s—poor eyesight—Rudyard took matters into his own hands. Determined not to let history repeat itself, the elder Kipling applied all his influence to get his son a commission.

The teenager who had lived his life in comfort and whose greatest concern had been pleasing his father now faced a much greater challenge—staying alive in his first battle.

Geert Spillebeen’s moving fictionalized account follows the true story of John Kipling, a young man whose desire to live up to the family name threatens his very survival. It also draws attention to the senseless suffering and loss of life in this and every war.

What happens when a father’s ambition and a son’s duty collide on the battlefields of World War I?

• Based on a True Story: Meticulously researched, this novel brings to life the heartbreaking history of John Kipling, the only son of the world-famous author.
• Coming of Age in Wartime: Follow a sheltered teenager who, desperate to please his father, is thrust from a life of comfort into the brutal reality of the trenches.
• The Weight of a Legacy: Explore the complicated relationship between a celebrated father haunted by his own perceived failures and a son determined to live up to the family name.
• The Battle of Loos: Experience the visceral, minute-by-minute account of a young lieutenant’s first—and last—day in one of World War I’s most devastating battles.

"This well-written novel combines facts with speculation about John Kipling’s short life and gruesome death. A riveting account of World War I, Kipling’s Choice could become the next great war novel." School Library Journal, Starred

"This powerful anti-war novel, amde even more powerful by its roots in a famous author's real life and his evolution from war zealot to embittered, broken father, deaerves a place beside All Quiet on the Western Front." --Kirkus, starred Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"The power of this story is in the contrast between the war and the home front. . . . The changing viewpoints reveal the patriotic blather and racism that drove the acclaimed writer to send the boy he loved to die in a war he knew nothing about." --Booklist Booklist, ALA

"The novel subtly conveys the complexities and ironies of the father/son relationship. Between the lines readers will detect that John desperately needs approval from his father and Rudyard just as desperately wants his son to become what he could never be: a war hero." -- Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly