Kipps

Arthur Kipps grows up in modest circumstances as an orphan and draper’s apprentice, learning his place in working-class English life. A sudden inheritance changes everything, thrusting him into wealth and forcing him to confront etiquette, status, and the expectations of polite society.

As Kipps tries to pass among the upper classes, he becomes entangled in questions of manners, marriage, self-respect, and social ambition. His new position brings comic humiliations, awkward encounters, and pressure to become someone he is not.

The story follows Kipps through rises and falls in fortune and feeling, as he weighs money against contentment and discovers where he truly belongs. The narrative moves toward a resolution that favors simpler loyalties and a more settled life.