Some day you'll see me somewhere and I shan't recognise you and you'll say to yourself - 'the old boy doesn't remember me.' But I do remember you - as you are now. That's the point. In my mind you never grow up at all. Never.
Mr Chipping, known fondly to his students as Mr Chips, is the beloved Latin master at a quiet boy's school. For forty-three years he acts as the heart and the soul of his institution, proving that dedication, love and a good sense of humour can make all the difference to generations of children.
The classic story of a quiet, unassuming man and the many lives he touches, Goodbye, Mr Chips has sold over two million copies and has never gone out of print.
'A minor miracle' New York Times
'A masterpiece' New York Herald Tribune
'A tiny, catch-in-the-throat story . . . perfectly done' New Yorker
'One of the most endearing creations of modern fiction' Telegraph
Mr Chipping is a quiet, unassuming teacher at Brookfield Grammar School. Wholly conventional, he never veers from his established routines. Until, that is, he meets Katherine, who charms him and his students and teaches Mr Chipping that education is about more than just the hours spent in the schoolroom. As his love for Katherine blooms, Mr Chipping develops a sense of humour and a broad view of his role as a teacher and a friend to his students, becoming the beloved 'Mr Chips' to generations of schoolboys.
Sweeping across four decades, Goodbye, Mr Chips features an extraordinary period of history, from the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s to Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, and demonstrates that, through it all, love and a good sense of humour can make all the difference.
Goodbye, Mr Chips is the beloved classic of generations of readers, and sure to delight people of all ages.