Imprint
- W&N
H. G. Wells: The Social Novels: Love and Mr Lewisham, Kipps, Ann Veronica, Tono-Bungay, The History of Mr Polly
H.G. Wells
Fiction, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
The complete collection of H.G. Wells's social novels, including KIPPS, THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY and TONO-BUNGAY.
DISCOVER A DIFFERENT SIDE TO H. G. WELLS . . .
H.G. Wells's social tales caused a sensation when they were first published in the early twentieth century. Piercingly funny, yet sympathetic, and containing a cast of colourful characters, they have drawn comparisons to the works of Dickens and Evelyn Waugh.
From the hapless Kipps, who is plunged into a world of high society, the rules of which he fails to understand, to Mr Polly, the draper, desperate to escape his shop and nagging wife, to Ann Veronica, a young woman rebelling against her father's stern patriarchal rule, these satires of Edwardian mores are both horribly funny and provoke questions about the class system and opportunities for social reform.
The social novels include LOVE AND MR LEWISHAM (1900), KIPPS (1905), ANN VERONICA (1909), TONO-BUNGAY (1909) and THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY (1910).
Praise for H. G. Wells: The Social Novels: Love and Mr Lewisham, Kipps, Ann Veronica, Tono-Bungay, The History of Mr Polly
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A horribly funny book, written by a man who still believed that the most effective way of attacking something was to laugh at it - D.J. Taylor on KIPPS
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A Dickensian comedy about one ordinary man's struggle for self-improvement - GUARDIAN
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The novel combines rich comedy and biting social criticism with Dickensian verve - David Lodge, GUARDIAN
H.G. Wells
H.G. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent in 1866. After working as a draper's apprentice and pupil-teacher, he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in 1884, studying under T. H. Huxley. He was awarded a first-class honours degree in biology and resumed teaching but had to retire after a kick from an ill-natured pupil afflicted his kidneys. He worked in poverty in London as a crammer while experimenting in journalism and stories. It was with THE TIME MACHINE (1895) that he had his real breakthrough.
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