12 h 47 minAudiobook2 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 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.
Is it for you?
Readers who enjoy affectionate social comedy, awkward outsiders, and stories that question whether moving up in the world means living better.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
Who’s who
- Arthur KippsA young draper’s assistant whose inheritance gives him money without the confidence or knowledge expected of a gentleman.
- Helen WalshinghamAn educated young woman who draws Kipps toward a world of social ambition and demanding conventions.
- Ann PornickKipps’s childhood companion, whose directness offers an alternative to the social world he struggles to enter.
- ChitterlowAn energetic actor and playwright whose grand plans bring uncertainty and possibility into Kipps’s life.
- Class and educationMoney changes Kipps’s circumstances, but his upbringing continues to shape how others judge him and how he judges himself.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Kipps : l’histoire d’une âme simple
by H. G. Wells· 1905
A draper’s assistant inherits money and struggles with social expectations.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 5
Arthur Kipps grows up with limited prospects and enters the drapery trade as an apprentice. His working life in Folkestone means long hours, strict rules, and little control over his own future. He has small pleasures and vague hopes, but his training prepares him to obey rather than choose. Wells makes the shop a place where a young man can learn his duties without learning much about the wider world.
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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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What is Kipps about?
Kipps follows a draper’s assistant who unexpectedly inherits money and tries to become a gentleman. His new position brings romance and opportunity, but also embarrassment, dependence on advisers, and uncertainty about whether social advancement will actually make him happy.
Is Kipps based on H. G. Wells’s own life?
Kipps draws on Wells’s experience of working as a draper’s apprentice and knowing the restrictions of lower-middle-class life. It is a novel, not an autobiography, but its shop routines and social humiliations have roots in circumstances Wells knew personally.
What does the title The Story of a Simple Soul mean?
The phrase points to Kipps’s unassuming nature and lack of worldly experience. He is not equipped to understand every social rule or financial proposal he encounters. Wells treats that innocence with affection while questioning the supposed superiority of more polished people.
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