What Worth We May Find

In following the intertwined lines of six urban-ites, What Worth We May Find focuses on how the intangible commodity of the human spirit is bartered among us. That worth, that crying in the dark for meaning and individuality, is an ancient coin, a pearl of great price. As the tale’s narrator and protagonist discovers, this intangible value cannot be derived in isolation, but in active engagement with one another, giving and receiving in search of a integrous meaning that we can one day call our own.
Of this, Mark Browning—the narrator and central figure of What Worth—knows full well. The pages of the book are his purgation, his often self-conscious, sometimes overly-dramatic, but always honest reflections of what he calls, “the most generative six months of my life.” A half-year where the detailed events matter substantially less than the concurrent themes t hat they expose.
In part, the story relates how Mark came to know Alex Matthews, her pristine flower shop, The Naked Daisies, and her revolving circle of influence including such disparate characters as The Woman Who Always Buys Hydrangeas, The Lesbians, and Garrett and the Attachment. But as with all linear narratives, the events that transpire only serve to tell a small portion of the story. Along the way, the intersections of Mark, Alex and their associations find their stories unraveled and worn bare. Worn, that is, until the worth can be found.
This book--in exposing Mark's buried meaning--shows how until our bartered value is unearthed, erected strong and true, we are always beholden to others. Like Mark's great lesson from the socialite Alex Matthews, we are always found owing to the nearest heroes and fiends, the nameless faces that press in, until something of worth can hold them all at bay.