Told as a reminiscence Chipping, or Mr.Chips as he is affectionately called, had a long life as a teacher of classics at a boys boarding school. He weathered the various Head Masters with their innovative teaching methods that he refused to implement and the typical politics endemic to schools in general. It helped that he loved “his boys” and reckoned early on his ambitions for anything higher in the system would not be for him. 

His demeanor had always been genial and he was well liked by the students and faculty with a wit that always brightened the day. But he really opened up when he married young Katherine in his middle age. Not only did she bring new life to him, but to the school as well and her tragic death in childbirth along with the baby was a devastating experience.

Still, Chipping lived on and Hilton’s writing conveys a comforting sense of stability, depth of feeling and description of a life of a basically ordinary man.

Except it’s not just that. This book is really a meditation on aging and memory and what it is like to outlive your peers. At some point in a long life there is no one left that remembers you in your youth or your accomplishments at 30 or 50 or even your marriage and that you had a son, even if only for a short time. 

Now that I am older and each year more and more of my friends die, shared memories become solo adventures in my mind. There is such sadness at this loss. It has been a long time since a book made me cry, but it was also a relief to see articulated, my feelings of aging and loss of friends in this way. 

An unexpected but grateful reading experience!