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Audiobook edition · 10 h 0 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does it take to put things right when pride makes it hard to yield?
In Two Men: A Romance of Sussex, Alfred Ollivant places rivalry against the green downs and farms of southern England. Two men stand at the heart of a quiet country story, where land, work and neighbours help shape a person's fate. Pride and honor matter here, as does the hope of making amends.
Sussex is more than a setting. Its chalk hills, hedged fields, villages and old farms give this romance its ground. Ollivant explores the weight of loyalty and the possibility of a change of heart. The pace is unhurried, leaving room to consider what people owe each other and what forgiveness asks of them.
What you’ll discover
- A countryside that matters Enter a Sussex of downs and farms, where place helps shape the lives within it.
- Two men in opposition Follow a rivalry that brings pride, honor and the hope of reconciliation into focus.
- The weight of honor Consider what it means to keep your word and stand by your people.
- Room for a change Explore redemption as the chance to face a wrong and try to put it right.
- Character before speed Settle into a slower rural story that gives character more weight than surprise.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy family stories, strong characters and English countryside scenes of hills and larks will love this novel. It also suits those drawn to contrasting brothers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young surgeon moves to the sea and finds a secret
- A hard father leaves a hard kind of gift
- Two brothers grow up in two different worlds
- Alf's cunning sends Ernie away to the Army
- The Army sends Ernie to India and to the Colonel
- Home again, the brothers find they are strangers
- A German hotel brings Ernie the woman he loves
- A Captain lays siege and Ernie stands his ground
- Hunger and faith teach Ernie who he is
- The book asks what makes a man and tells it with warmth
Who’s who
- Ernie CasparThe elder son, warm, lazy and loyal, who loves the Downs and his father and finds his strength only when he has something to fight for.
- Alf CasparThe younger son, small, frail and clever, who works tirelessly for money and position and uses other people's weaknesses to get ahead.
- Edward CasparA gentle, stammering scholar and the heir of a noble line, who wants only peace and becomes a quiet saint in the workhouse.
- Anne CasparA tobacconist's daughter with a steel will, who guards her husband fiercely and finds it hard to show love to her elder son.
- Mr. TruppA gruff, brilliant surgeon who believes people grow only under pressure and keeps a close eye on the whole Caspar family.
- Ruth BoamA tall, dark, steady maid from the Ruther valley, working at the Hohenzollern Hotel, who is rooted in Sussex and unaware of danger.
- Captain RoyalA hard, efficient officer in Ernie's old regiment, an athlete with a polished manner who takes what he wants.
- Mr. PigottThe blunt schoolmaster and chapel manager, a radical who loves Ernie, scorns Alf and argues with Mr. Trupp about discipline.
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Due uomini: un romanzo del Sussex
Two brothers grow up in one Sussex house, and a maid at a seaside hotel tests which of them is a man.
Medium level5–10 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
Why does the boy who never tries at school become the man you most want to follow? Alfred Ollivant builds his novel Two Men around that question.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A young surgeon moves to the sea and finds a secret
William Trupp is a rising young surgeon in London when he gives up his prospects and moves to Beachbourne. He wants the sea and open air for his campaign against tuberculosis. He takes the Manor House in Old Town, the ancient quarter on the hill.
Soon a letter arrives from Hans Caspar, a famous railway contractor. He asks Trupp to look in on his son Ned, who has a drinking problem. Trupp finds a very tall young man in a quilted dressing gown, with a stammer. Edward Caspar is writing a book on mysticism, and has been for years. At the door stands a sharp-eyed landlady called Anne, who guards her lodger like a watchdog.
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Cite this edition
Ollivant, Alfred. Two Men: A Romance of Sussex. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/two-men-a-romance-of-sussex.
Ollivant, A. (2026). Two men: A romance of Sussex. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/two-men-a-romance-of-sussex
Ollivant, Alfred. Two Men: A Romance of Sussex. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/two-men-a-romance-of-sussex.
@book{ollivant2026two,
author = {Ollivant, Alfred},
title = {Two Men: A Romance of Sussex},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/two-men-a-romance-of-sussex}
}
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What is Two Men by Alfred Ollivant about?
It follows two brothers, Ernie and Alf Caspar, raised in a Sussex seaside town. Ernie is gentle and loved, Alf is clever and ambitious. Their paths part through school, the Army, a hotel job and a woman Ernie loves.
Who is Mr. Trupp in Two Men?
Mr. Trupp is the town's brilliant surgeon and the Caspars' family doctor. He is gruff, shrewd and kind. He believes people grow only under pressure, which he calls the Lash, and he watches both brothers closely.
Where is Beachbourne and is it a real place?
Beachbourne is the novel's name for a growing Sussex seaside town below a headland called Beau-nez, with an old town on the hill and a new one by the sea. Its landscape is based on the real Sussex coast.
The author
Alfred Ollivant
1874–1927 · British novelist
Alfred Ollivant (1874–1927) was a British novelist. He was born in Nuthurst, Sussex, and died in London. His novel Bob, Son of Battle was published in 1898. He also wrote The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea and Two Men: A Romance of Sussex.
More by Alfred Ollivant
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