Lost Seeds

A novel chronicling the strained relationship between two brothers born into the remnants of their parents’ former enslavement. One brother seems to overcome, while the other descends further into adversity. What happens when they are forced to face each other? Lost Seeds is the story of two brothers, Dublin and Timothy Brisco, born into poverty at the turn of the twentieth century to formerly enslaved parents. From birth, they witness firsthand the atrocities their parents had to endure and themselves experience the continued struggles of being Black in the South. Encounters with physical abuse, mental illness, and racism define the brothers’ lives, and despite their best efforts to survive, the seeds of slavery’s wickedness inevitably spawn and lead the two down separate paths. Dublin attempts to overcome his tragic past and hopes to elevate his place in life by escaping oppression and adapting to segregated societal life, while Timothy openly displays his wounds, attempts to reject his Black identity, and descends into a fog of mental illness. The two brothers never discuss their journeys, nor the lifetime of insecurity and violence they experienced, ultimately creating an impassable chasm in their relationship. Eventually, at the request of their mother, Dublin reluctantly permits Timothy to live on his family’s land in a one-room windowless shack. Although they are once again united on the same property, their feelings of indifference and the distance between the two persist. Will their relationship forever be lost to the traumas of their past, or will they be able to come together and be each other’s strength in the face of the cruelties of their world? Because no matter how much time or distance passes, the seeds of brotherhood never die.