There are many parallels between this novel and Rudyard Kipling's Kim that was published in 1900: the settings, the young English boy raised as a native by an Indian surrogate mother, "the Great Game" as it was played by the British Empire and Imperial Russia.

It has sold millions of copies, caused travel agents to create tours that visited the locations in the book, and inspired a television adaptation and a musical play.

They eventually find refuge in the kingdom of Gulkote where Ashton, now going by the name Ashok, forgets his English parentage and grows up as a native Indian boy.

While working as a servant for Lalji, the young yuveraj (crown prince) of Gulkote, Ashton befriends the neglected princess Anjuli, in addition to the master of stables, Koda Dad, and his son Zarin.

He quickly finds that his sense of place is torn between his newfound status as Ashton, a British "sahib", and Ashok, the native Indian boy he once believed he was.

After being absent without leave in Afghanistan (in an effort to restore the honour of his soldiers, penalized for losing weapons to border raiders), Ash is suspended from the Guides and sent to escort a royal wedding party across India.

After revealing himself as Ashok to Anjuli, Ash falls in love with her but is unable to act on his feelings as she is not only betrothed to another but belongs to what is now an alien culture, across a divide which they can no longer bridge.

[2] For HBO and Goldcrest, and first screened in 1984 in the UK, Peter Duffell directed a five-hour three-part television miniseries based on the novel, starring Ben Cross as Ashton, Amy Irving as Anjuli, Omar Sharif as Koda Dad and Christopher Lee as Kaka-ji Rao.

Although conventional in storytelling and photography, the mini series had ample production value (at a budget of $12 million it was the most expensive made-for-cable film at the time)[7][8] and is faithful to the book, although cutting short the youth of Ashton before his return to India, and transposing the Afghan rebellion and Ash's rescue of Anjuli.

Budgeted at 4 million pounds,[10] the musical's cast featured Hadley Fraser as Ashton, Simon Gleeson as Walter, Gayatri Iyer as Anjuli, Kulvinder Ghir as the Rana of Bhithor and Kabir Bedi as Kahn Sahib.