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Audiobook edition · 12 h 47 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a fortune buys you freedom, but leaves you unsure how to live?
Arthur Kipps knows long hours, strict rules, and the narrow prospects of a draper’s assistant in Folkestone. Then an unexpected inheritance lets him leave the shop and enter a world he barely understands. In H. G. Wells’s comic novel, money changes his position almost overnight, but confidence proves harder to acquire.
At a woodcarving class, Kipps meets Helen Walshingham, whose education and assured manners impress him. As he moves toward her circle, becoming a gentleman begins to feel like another apprenticeship. Ann Pornick, his childhood companion, offers a life with less performance. Between social ambition and familiar affection, Kipps must ask what rising in the world really means.
What you’ll discover
- A fortune, unfamiliar rules Follow Kipps into company where having money does not mean knowing how to belong.
- The work behind respectability Discover how lessons in manners turn the promise of independence into fresh demands.
- Two different kinds of belonging Meet Helen and Ann, whose contrasting worlds bring Kipps’s divided loyalties into focus.
- Comedy close to home Find affectionate humour in the awkward gap between how Kipps feels and how he should behave.
- A searching look at class Consider how upbringing shapes judgment, even when an inheritance changes nearly everything else.
Who will love it
Readers who love warm, comic stories about class, money, and first love will enjoy Kipps. It suits those drawn to Edwardian seaside towns, shop life, lively talkers, and gentle heroes.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lonely boy and a split sixpence
- Seven years in the Emporium
- Kipps falls for Miss Walshingham's world
- A reckless night with Harry Chitterlow
- An advertisement and a fortune
- Mr. Coote takes charge of his education
- Engagement at Lympne Castle
- Ann comes back into the picture
- Masterman, the hotel, and what money cannot buy
- How Wells tells it and what it is about
Who’s who
- Arthur KippsA shy draper's apprentice who inherits a fortune and wants above all to do the right thing, if only someone would tell him what it is.
- Ann PornickSid's sister and Kipps's childhood sweetheart, plain, warm, and practical, who keeps her half of a split sixpence for years.
- Sid PornickKipps's boyhood friend, now a socialist bicycle maker, loyal and proud, and wary of what money does to people.
- Helen WalshinghamA clever, ambitious young teacher of wood carving who longs for London and sets out to improve Kipps.
- Chester CooteA solemn house agent and committee man who appoints himself Kipps's guide to gentlemanly life.
- Harry ChitterlowA booming actor and playwright who sells Kipps shares in his unproduced plays and believes in coincidence.
- MastermanA sick, angry journalist who lodges with Sid and preaches that society is ill from top to bottom.
- Mr. ShalfordThe drapery master who worships System, saves every penny, and drives his apprentices through long days.
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Kipps: la historia de un alma sencilla
by H. G. Wells · 1905
A draper's apprentice inherits twelve hundred pounds a year and finds no one has taught him how to be rich.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEspañol
Excellent
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In short
What happens to a shop boy who wakes one morning with twelve hundred pounds a year and no idea how to spend it? In Kipps, H.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A lonely boy and a split sixpence
Kipps grows up in New Romney, in a little toy shop kept by an aunt and uncle who are already old when he arrives. They keep to themselves and fear anything low. A sociable boy has to find his own company.
He finds it in Sid Pornick, the haberdasher's son next door. The two boys meet over the doctor's goats and fight to a draw. After that they are friends for life, playing smugglers and Hurons across the Marsh and the rotting wrecks. Then comes Ann, Sid's sister. On the last summer before Kipps goes to be a draper, she races him to a tree and he sees her as if for the first time.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1905
- Language
- Español
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Wells, H. G. Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/kipps-the-story-of-a-simple-soul.
Wells, H. G. (2026). Kipps: The story of a simple soul. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/kipps-the-story-of-a-simple-soul (Original work published 1905)
Wells, H. G. Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/kipps-the-story-of-a-simple-soul.
@book{wells2026kipps,
author = {Wells, H. G.},
title = {Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/kipps-the-story-of-a-simple-soul},
note = {First published 1905}
}
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What is Kipps by H. G. Wells about?
It follows Arthur Kipps, a shy draper's apprentice in a Kent seaside town, who unexpectedly inherits twelve hundred pounds a year. The story shows how he tries to fit into polite society, who guides him, and what he learns about love and money.
Who are Ann and Helen in Kipps?
Ann Pornick is Kipps's childhood sweetheart from New Romney, now a servant. Helen Walshingham is the refined teacher of his wood-carving class. They stand for two possible lives, one simple and affectionate, the other ambitious and polite.
When was Kipps written, and is it a true story?
Wells published Kipps in 1905. It is a novel, but it draws on his own youth as a draper's apprentice, which gives its shop scenes and its sympathy for Kipps a vivid, lived-in feel.
The author
H. G. Wells
1866–1946 · English science fiction novelist
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer born in Bromley, Kent. He wrote novels, short stories and nonfiction. His novels included The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). He died in London.
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