Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul

By: Wells, Herbert George

The protagonist of the Bildungsroman is Arthur "Artie" Kipps, an illegitimate orphan. In Book I ("The Making of Kipps"), he is raised by his aged aunt and uncle, who keep a little shop in New Romney, on the southern coast of Kent. He attends the Cavendish Academy ("a middle-class school", not a "boarding school", ) in Hastings, in East Sussex. "By inherent nature he had a sociable disposition", and befriends Sid Pornick, the neighbour's boy. Kipps falls in love with Sid's younger sister, Ann. Ann gives him half a sixpence as a token of their love when, at 14, he is apprenticed to the Folkestone Drapery Bazaar, run by Mr. Shalford.However, the Pornicks move away and Kipps forgets Ann. He becomes infatuated with Helen Walshingham, who teaches a wood carving class on Thursday nights. When Chitterlow, an actor and aspiring playwright, meets Kipps by running into him with his bicycle, their encounter turns into an inebriated evening that leads to Kipps being "swapped" (dismissed). However, before he leaves Mr. Shalford's establishment, Chitterlow brings to his attention a newspaper advertisement that leads to an unsuspected inheritance for Kipps from his grandfather of a house and 26,000.In Book II ("Mr. Coote the Chaperon"), Kipps fails in his attempt to adapt to his new social class while he lives in Folkestone. By chance, he meets a Mr. Coote, who undertakes his social education; that leads to renewed contact with Helen Walshingham, and they become engaged. However, the process of bettering himself alienates Kipps more and more, especially since Helen takes advantage of Kipps's fortune to establish herself and her brother in London society. Chance meetings with Sid and then Ann, now a house servant, lead to a decision to abandon social conventions and his engagement to Helen and marry his childhood sweetheart.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B086PLV1Z6
• ISBN13: 9798628081693
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 8.0"