William Dean Howells 
The Rise of Silas Lapham 

‘The Rise of Silas Lapham’ is William Dean Howells 1885 novel which tells the story of its title character, who inherits his father’s paint business and subsequently makes a great deal of money. Silas moves his family from rural Vermont to Boston in order to try and improve his social position. The consequences of which are both humorous and tragic. A sharp contrast is drawn between ‘new’ and ‘old’ money by William Dean Howells in this classic work, for which he is best known.