Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul is a novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1905. Humorous yet sympathetic, this perceptive social novel is generally regarded as a masterpiece, and was the author's own favourite work. Artie Kipps is an orphan, raised by his uncle and aunt. He is friends with Sid and Ann Pornick, the children of his next-door neighbour. When Kipps leaves home to be apprenticed for seven years as a draper , he and Ann cut a sixpence in half, each of them taking one half as a keepsake. His life changes suddenly when he is run down by a playwright on a bicycle one evening.... The playwright, Chitterlow, tries to make amends, and he and Kipps get drunk. Kipps is then fired from the draper's shop for being out all night. But Chitterlow shows him a newspaper advertisement claiming that if Kipps will call on a solicitor named Bean, he will learn something to his advantage. Kipps worries that it might be a trick, but with no job, he has few options and decides to visit the solicitor. Bean reveals that Kipps is the grandson of a wealthy gentleman.
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| Author: | H. G. Wells |
| Genre: | Fiction, Novel |
| Year published: | 1905 |
| Number of editions: | 13 |