5 h 52 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 52 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a man's grand ambitions belong to a town where no one can keep a dream private?
Mr. Opp wants to make something worthwhile of his local newspaper. His hopes and daily work are tied to it, but he lives in a small American town where everyone knows everyone else. In Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice's novel, a struggling paper becomes the center of a dream that neighbors cannot help watching.
Rice tells his story with lively talk, comic touches, and affection for ordinary people. Trouble has a place here, but so does plain kindness. Beneath Mr. Opp's big plans lies a quieter question: what makes an ambition worth pursuing? The story looks beyond success and money to the heart of a man who wants to build something.
What you’ll discover
- A dream worth watching Meet Mr. Opp, whose hopes for his newspaper give everyday work a larger purpose.
- Neighbors who notice everything Enter a close-knit town where private hopes soon become part of the common conversation.
- Humor with a kind heart Enjoy comic touches and lively talk that keep the mood bright when trouble arrives.
- More than worldly success Look beneath grand plans to the plain kindness that gives ambition its human weight.
- Ordinary lives, warmly seen Spend time with humble people whose daily concerns receive both laughter and tender attention.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy small-town comedy, lovable dreamers, river settings, and stories where kindness quietly matters more than success. It suits readers who like warm characters and gentle humor.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dreamer in a plaid suit comes home
- Two brothers quarrel over a sister's future
- Kippy needs a brother more than a financier
- The Cove needs a newspaper, and he needs a job
- Love arrives in a pink dress and a hammock
- A man with failing sight and a steamboat girl enter the story
- An oil boom lifts the whole town
- Mrs. Gusty sets a price for her daughter
- What the story is really about, and how it is told
Who’s who
- D. Webster OppA small, boastful dreamer who tries shoes, oil, and journalism and cares for his helpless half sister above all.
- KippyMr. Opp's half sister, who has the mind of a child, plays with dolls, and clings to her brother for safety.
- Guinevere GustyA dreamy young woman home from the seminary, bored with the Cove and ruled by her strong-willed mother.
- Willard HintonA clever, bitter young secretary whose failing eyesight threatens his career and his hopes as a writer.
- Jimmy FallowsThe round, joking hotel keeper and boatman who knows every bit of Cove gossip and teases Mr. Opp kindly.
- Mrs. GustyGuinevere's commanding mother, who runs her household like a general and sets a condition on any marriage.
- Nick FennyA thin, tireless boy printer who does the real work on the newspaper and is fiercely loyal to his chief.
- Aunt TishThe old family servant who has cared for the Opp household for forty years and guards Kippy day and night.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 5 h 52 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Mr. Opp in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Mr. Opp
by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice · 1909
A small man in a loud plaid suit boards a launch, and a funeral changes the course of his life.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What does a man do when his big dreams keep failing and a helpless sister needs him? In Mr.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dreamer in a plaid suit comes home
Mr. D. Webster Opp steps onto the wharf in brand-new clothes, wearing a huge scarf pin and carrying suitcases with his name painted in large letters. He is about thirty-five, small and pockmarked, and his pale eyes look hungry for hope. The cases hold shoe samples, his newest job after insurance and a short spell as a reporter.
Jimmy Fallows, the round and mocking owner of a rickety launch, has waited half a day to take him to Cove City. Jimmy jokes about Mr. Opp's many missed opportunities. Out on the water, Mr. Opp announces plans for an oil company, says he should have been a poet, and talks as if the fortune were already counted. He believes every word while he speaks it.
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What is Mr. Opp about?
It follows D. Webster Opp, a boastful but good-hearted dreamer in a Kentucky river town. He starts a newspaper, chases oil money, falls in love, and cares for his sister Kippy, who has a child's mind.
Who is Kippy in Mr. Opp?
Kippy is Mr. Opp's half sister. Illness in childhood left her with the mind of a small child. She plays with dolls, fears an unseen presence, and depends wholly on her brother and on Aunt Tish.
What is The Opp Eagle?
The Opp Eagle is the weekly newspaper Mr. Opp founds in Cove City. He fills it with grand editorials, local gossip, and boosting of the town, while young Nick Fenny does the printing and reporting.
The author
Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice
1870–1942 · American novelist
Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice was an American novelist born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, in 1870. She lived in Louisville, Kentucky, and died there in 1942. She wrote Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, published in 1901, Mr. Opp, published in 1909, and A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill, published in 1912.
More by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice
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