The day's work

Blurb

Rudyard Kipling's tales of work and crisis turn engineering and relief duty into tests of nerve, loyalty, and endurance. On the Kashi Bridge, rising over the Ganges, weary Public Works officer Findlayson and his young assistant Hitchcock have spent years battling delays, disease, bureaucracy, labor troubles, and the river itself, building a monument to colonial ambition and human perseverance. Beside them stands Peroo, a fierce Lascar serang whose practical genius, rough humor, and hidden spiritual unease make him indispensable when a telegram warns of sudden floods on the Ramgunga. In a frantic night of engines, cranes, bells, whistles, and stone-boats, the men race to protect the unfinished bridge as Mother Gunga rises in overwhelming force, threatening both the structure and Findlayson's professional pride. The book also follows British officers sent into famine country, where heat, exhaustion, and mass suffering test every scrap of competence. On the train south, William proves as practical and unflinching as any man, while Jim Hawkins takes command of the relief effort with brisk authority. Across bridge works and famine lines alike, Kipling shows hard-won skill, uneasy cooperation, and the stubborn human will to keep going when nature and disaster refuse to yield. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.