Seed Corn Must Not Be Ground

About this book

A harrowing and yet quietly hopeful memoir, Seed Corn Must Not Be Ground explores the internal contours of a life shaped by family trauma. Extending beyond the bounds of an individual story to reflect holistically about what it means to be human, the book's overarching preoccupation is the problem and meaning of suffering. Structured by a unique braiding of memory and spirituality, the book ponders profound human questions about pain and loss, grief and sorrow, resilience and healing. While fiercely eschewing easy answers for pain that cannot be borne, Browne invites the reader to participate in a spiritual quest to discover a path toward healing, especially through the salvific power of words. In language simultaneously wrenching and beautiful, Browne reveals depths of wisdom for understanding and responding to the plight of human persons and of the earth with solidarity and compassion. While the flow of the book moves from absence to presence, from silence to words, from survival to precarious wholeness, and from isolation to tender connection, the bend of the arc is never assured. The tortuous path of this one life reflects the reality of all of our lives - complicated and often utterly tragic, fraught with accidents and contingencies, detours and dead ends that sometimes, with grace, guide us to endure and overcome unspeakable hardships.