Sea Glass Guide: The Ultimate Sea Glass Hunting Companion

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The lively harbour town of Seaham is found on the Durham Heritage Coast and is world-famous for its abundance of unique sea glass, which people travel from far and wide for a chance to collect. Seaham and nearby Sunderland were home to many bottleworks and glass making factories during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Seaham boasted the largest glass bottle works in Britain – The Londonderry Bottleworks, operating from the 1850s to 1921.

The heroine of this book, Honora, is a wonderful character. we meet her as she embarks on a new marriage to a slightly swarmy typewriter salesman in the pre-depression 20's in a small coastal town in NH. The depression hits, and her quiet, muted efficiency as a housewife becomes a beacon of stability and honor as the people around her become involved in labor strikes and violence. She collects pieces of sea glass from the beach - ones that have been worn smooth from their time in the ocean, but...more The heroine of this book, Honora, is a wonderful character. we meet her as she embarks on a new marriage to a slightly swarmy typewriter salesman in the pre-depression 20's in a small coastal town in NH. The depression hits, and her quiet, muted efficiency as a housewife becomes a beacon of stability and honor as the people around her become involved in labor strikes and violence. She collects pieces of sea glass from the beach - ones that have been worn smooth from their time in the ocean, but that have become so strong they never break, and that glass becomes the metaphor for Honora in the maelstrom of the times. Told from the rotating perspective of 5 different characters. Written in a quiet and muted literary style that matches Honora's key attributes, yet the novel becomes

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This is a fast and easy read set in 1929 New England during the start of the depression. Our characters include a young newlywed couple, an 11 year old boy, a young 20-something man who has worked in the mills all his life, a 30-something wealthy woman, and a few communists to round out the group. The very unlikely people come together and their lives change forever. Throughout the story, Honora walked the beach looking for smooth sea glass. She imagined that different colors of glass represented the various people she knew. The sea glass was bounced around by the waves like Honora was challenged by life. But they both ended up beautiful and unbreakable. It’s up to you how much sea glass you collect, you can take it home to enjoy or leave it behind for others to find. Some people display the sea glass they’ve found in glass bottles or some even make jewellery from it. You can leave the sea glass as it is or give it a wash and brighten it up by brushing it in baby oil.

I loved that Honora loves sea glass, but her new husband thinks it is trash. To Honora they were broken shards of colored glass that were discarded but the sea had made it strong and beautiful. Sea Glass is the name given to man made glass which has been discarded into the sea, then tumbled and shaped by the sea over several years before returning to the shore. Vivian, a friend that Honora met on the beach was smart, sassy and wise. Vivian can see a way to the future and she valued friendship as it should be.Set in the early depression era somewhere on the East Coast, the novel follows Honora and Sexton Beecher from the beginning of their marriage. They moved into a large deserted old house on the beach and threw themselves into making it habitable with mostly sweat equity and little money. Sexton is away every week because of his job as travelling salesman and Honora lives a quiet but very structured life. She walks frequently on the lonely beach and collects colorful bits of sea glass. This is the 2nd Shreve book I finished in the last couple of weeks. I really enjoyed reading it, though not quite as much as Light on Snow. The structure of the book -- alternating between the viewpoints of the different characters -- made it take a little while to really get into it and feel invested in the characters, but once they started intersecting, I couldn't put it down. And the structure provided some great symbolism -- little threads weaving in and out of others' lives, sometimes only briefly, and sometimes with monumental consequences. Collecting sea glass is just one of many events and activities to enjoy along the Durham Coast.With so much to explore,extend your visitand book a seaside stay in one of the county's many award-winning hotels, bed and breakfasts or carvan parks. The most common glass to find in Seaham is clear and green glass, as this was the most popular coloured glass produced by the bottleworks. You’ll also find yellow, red, blue, aqua and even multi-coloured pebbles or milk glass which comes in pastel shades of blues, yellows and green.