Two Years Ago, Volume I

"Two Years Ago, Volume I" by Charles Kingsley is a story that starts by looking back on a difficult time two years earlier, where two friends, Claude Mellot and Stangrave, think about what they went through during a time of problems for them and their community. The book seems to be about how society changes, people dealing with their own issues, and how friendships work when there are big national and moral questions to face. The book opens with the two pals talking about life lessons learned from a disease that had a huge effect on them. While traveling to Whitbury, their talks cover politics, what's right and wrong, and how society is doing, bringing up events like Frémont's election and slavery. Claude, the artist who feels things deeply, and Stangrave, an American with a noble background, show different ways of looking at the world, mixing dreams with real-world politics. The story mixes deep thoughts with lively pictures of the English countryside as the men get ready to face their past and find out the complicated details of their lives.