The Phantom Rickshaw

Written by Rudyard Kipling

Narrated by Cathy Dobson

An uncanny tale from the Raj. When Jack Pansay's affair with Mrs. Keith-Wessington comes to an unseemly end, he believes the matter to be over. But Mrs. Wessington's obsession with him continues year after year, as she stalks him in her rickshaw around the walks of Simla. When Pansay announces his engagement to Kitty Mannering, the trauma is too much for Mrs. Wessington and she dies shortly afterwards. But this is only the beginning of Pansay's torment. From now on, the ghost of Mrs. Wessington appears in her rickshaw wherever he goes in her eternal quest to win him back.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Door Consulting
• Release date: Feb 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781467668699

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English author and poet who began writing in India and shortly found his work celebrated in England. An extravagantly popular, but critically polarizing, figure even in his own lifetime, the author wrote several books for adults and children that have become classics, Kim, The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, Captains Courageous and others. Although taken to task by some critics for his frequently imperialistic stance, the author’s best work rises above his era’s politics. Kipling refused offers of both knighthood and the position of Poet Laureate, but was the first English author to receive the Nobel prize.

Reviews for The Phantom Rickshaw

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an odd one to review - simply because the Rudyard Kipling is a true English Gentleman when these stories were published - that is, the "White" people are civilized and good, and anyone not white is almost sub-human, with the darker the person the less human they are. This always brings up the question - should you judge a book by today's standards, or by the standards of the period the book was written in?First, this is a book of short stories written by Kipling in the turn of the century. It has language that I wasn't familiar with, especially when it was pertaining to modes of transportation and the different classes of Indian People (I'm assuming most of these are now considered derogatory). I had to stop, figure out the context of the word within the story and than continue on. The stories themselves are quite well written. The first one, the Phantom Rickshaw - was a true ghost story. The other three stories flirt with ghosts and death, but aren't really true ghost stories. "My True Ghost Story" was actually scary - and leaves a reader wondering about what actually happened at the end. "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes was also scary, but for a different reason, although this one I think shows Kipling's view of Englishman initiative and superiority over the native population. The last story was the one I did not like very much. It was well written, but the main characters were boorish and annoying and the story only worked because of Free-Masonry. So overall - well written stories, although they are totally written in a different time.

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This section of the iBook "The Works of Rudyard Kipling" contains the short stories "The Phantom 'Rickshaw", "My Own True Ghost Story", and "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes". It also has the novella "The Man Who Would Be King" and finally "The Finest Story in the World".Only the first 2 stories ("The Phantom 'Rickshaw" and "My Own True Ghost Story") are really ghost stories. I found these 2 more creepy in concept than in the actual reading - both of them would adapt well as a scary movie. I found "The Finest Story in the World" the best story in this volume, especially in terms of the writing style. I did like the novella "The Man Who Would Be King" mainly because it recalled to mind the wonderful film version with Michael Caine and Sean Connery!