Overview

First published in 1905, H. G. Wells's Kipps is an appraisal of society and class framed in a ""rags to riches"" style plot. The protagonist, Arthur Kipps, is an orphan who, from an early age, is entrusted to his Aunt and Uncle who own a shop in New Romney on the Kent coast in Southern England. Educated poorly at a cheap, middle-class seminary boarding school, he is later apprenticed for seven years to a draper in Folkstone. Before he leaves home, however, Arthur becomes enamored by Ann (his best friend's sister). As a token of their love, they cut a sixpence in half and keep one half each. After a difficult apprenticeship and a drunken night out, he's dismissed from his job. But his friend Chitterlow (an actor and playwright) points out an article in a newspaper whereby Kipps is shocked to learn that he is, in fact, the grandson of a wealthy gentleman and is heir to a fortune. His life is totally changed as he is thrown into British upper-class society. He struggles to master the manners and rules that accompany his change of social status. But as he soon discovers, becoming a 'true gentleman' is not necessarily a good thing and certainly not easily achieved. In Kipps, H. G. Wells achieves a work on a par with Dickens for observation of place, class, and society. It has been adapted often for stage, (the Musical Half a Sixpence is loosely based on it) film, and television.

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Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English author who wrote on a wide variety of subjects, including science fiction, politics, history, biography, travel, and popular science. Chris MacDonnell is a classically trained actor who graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) in 1973. He has an excellent reputation in the U.K. for playing leading and supporting roles in theater, television, radio drama, and films. His theater credits include London's West End and the Royal National Theatre. He's also featured in British TV shows, BBC radio-drama, commercials, and films. In the U.S. he's voiced many commercials, promos, games, and animations. He's also a featured character in the historical drama set against the backdrop of the American War of Independence, Courage, New Hampshire for PBS, in which he plays Merry Pugwell. He came to narration in 2013, and since then he's recorded over twenty titles in a variety of genres, including epic fantasy, thrillers, historical romance, and biography. Chris now lives and works in Southern California, where his forty-year career continues to flourish.

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