First published in 1905 Kipps soon became H.G Wells' most popular novel. It is a rags to riches story of a "simple soul" Arthur Kipps, a naïve young man who finds himself suddenly struggling to keep afloat in the deep waters of unlooked for wealth. He reaches out to those he considers his betters to anchor himself in this new world, so far removed from his relatively humble life of apprentice to a Draper.
Young Kipps is quick to abandon his first love Ann for the allure of Helen Walsingham, whom he feels is more the match for the inevitable rise in his status which must surely follow his new found wealth.
Wells lets the obviously humorous side of the situation naturally unfold, whilst subtly framing Kipps' rise and fall in the context of the hypocrisies and futilities of Edwardian English society.
