Kipps

The Story of a Simple Soul

Arthur Kipps, an orphaned draper’s assistant of humble means, unexpectedly inherits a large sum of money and that is when all his troubles begin. After being left a fortune by a rich uncle, Kipps finds himself in a position to marry Helen Walshingham. His main problem is that he is uneducated, knowing next to nothing of the world of books or the manners of the society he aspires to join. Helen, together with Kipps’s mentor Chester Coote, set about the task of making him a gentleman: correcting his grammar, seeing him appropriately dressed and supervising his reading matter... But then he later realizes that it is best to be yourself. This is a story of wealth, manners, society, etiquette, class and social mobility, money, inequality and aspiration...