The Only Sounds We Make

The Only Sounds We Make is a memoir in the form of personal essays that is deeply concerned with the way language, image, and memory give a life coherence and meaning. Fascinated by the natural world, Zacharias turns to creatures whose language we cannot fathom, from spiders to vultures to dogs, and the mute record of the land through time, to discover what those powers mean. These thirteen deeply metaphorical essays are both intensely personal and vitally concerned with the larger world, including the kingdom beyond our ken. Exploring subjects as diverse as her father's suicide, the great migration that changed the racial composition of Chicago's south side, the nature of light, and the geology of the Grand Canyon, Zacharias writes with grace, precision, and candor about the experiences that shape our humanity and our relationships, to our parents, to our children, and to past, present, and future.