Sea Glass

Shreve, Anita. Sea Glass. Little, Brown and Company, 2002.

Reason read: June is Small Town Month and Sea Glass takes place in a small town in New Hampshire. Even though I read this years ago I am sticking to my rule: if I don’t remember the plot or major characters I have to reread it.

The backdrop to Sea Glass is 1929 New England, specifically on the coast of New Hampshire. Each chapter reveals the perspective of a different character; like a viewfinder, clicking through their lives one by one. Honora Beecher finds herself in a rundown cottage, married to a typewriter salesman she met at her teller job at a bank. Sexton provides for Honora and she loves him, despite him being a virtually stranger. Little by little, Honora’s world expands as she meets the various residents of her (fictional) seaside town. When the stock market crash of 1929 explodes, true personalities are revealed. Shreve is a magician; making readers change their minds about characters. Vivian starts off as a snob while Sexton is admirable. McDermott appears untrustworthy and untethered to life. As with all Shreve novels, the ending is not Hollywood and yet we keep coming back for more.

Characters:

• Alan – brother of Honora; went to the McKenzie Boys School
• Alphonse – 11 years old; one of six children; mother is a widow; works in the Ely Falls mill on the bobbins; father died when he was eight; doesn’t know how to swim; wears his sister’s sweater when it’s cold.
• Alice Willard – mother of Honora
• Arnaud Nadeau – father is a mule spinner; wears a sweater once belonging to his mother; millworker
• Asa Whitlock – hotel guest and friend of Vivian
• Arthur Willet – maybe makes his millions from a diamond mine
• Augustin – brother of Alphonse
• Bernice Radcliffe – sick of raisins
• Bobby Kellogg – a friend of Vivian’s
• Camille – sister of Alphonse
• Cedric Nye – from Raleigh, North Carolina
• Charles – brother of Honora; went to the McKenzie Boys School
• Charles – from Syracusa
• Cyril Whittemore – radio actor
• Delaney – mill worker
• Dickie – was engaged; moved to Indianapolis after the stock market crash; works for a shirt company; stayed with a man named Johnny Merrill
• Dorothy Trafton – acquainted with Vivian
• Eileen – McDermott’s sister
• Emma – Charles’ infant daughter; died in the explosion
• Estelle – a woman back home.
• Evanthia Blanchette – Alphonse’s mother; works of the same floor as McDermott
• Evelyn – Charles’ wife
• Father Riley
• Floyd Holmes – owns the party house
• Franco – desk manager
• Francois Boutet – millworker; short
• Georgia Porter – from Washington; her father is in politics
• Gerald – friend of Vivian’s; homosexual
• Harold Willard – uncle of Honora; went blind in the explosion
• Harlan Quigley – from New York
• Harold Hurd – mill boss
• Honora (Willard) Beecher – newly married to Sexton
• Ima Thurston – drunk party-goer
• Jack Hess – store owner; has a sister named Arlene
• John Sevens – hotel guest
• Joshua Cutts – lives at the beach all year long
• Lester Simms – a friend of Vivian’s
• Louis Desjardin – friend of Aphone’s brothers
• Madame Derocher – a cook at a boarding house
• Marguerite – Honora’s aunt; died in childbirth
• Marie-Therese – sister of Alphonse
• May – found a lump in her breast and had a mastectomy
• McAllister – Penderton millworker; drunk
• McDermott – a twenty year old mill worker who frequents prostitutes and smokes; has an ulcer; father abandoned the family when McDermott was twelve; has a sister Eileen (19); brothers are Eamon (went to Texas) and Michael; had a girlfriend named Evangeline (redheaded weaver) who got pregnant by another man; mother died of a stroke; a little deaf; first name is Quillen but everyone calls him by his last.
• Mironson – a man from the Trade Workers Union; from New York
• Nat & Hunt Chadbourne – brothers who invented the ball bearing and are millionaires
• Natalie Nye – Cedric’s wife
• O’Reilly – millworker
• Ouellette – millworker; has eight kids
• Paul Tsomides – millworker; brother owns a market; injured in a raid
• Phillip – brother of Honora; went to the McKenzie Boys School
• Ross – has bad teeth and also works at the mill; married to Rosemary;
• Sam Coyne – always late for school
• Sean Rasley – works in the mill as a weaver
• Seth – Honora’s younger brother; died in the explosion
• Sexton – newly married to Honora; typewriter salesman; Mr. Fosdick is his boss;
• Sister Mary Patrick – non at school
• Schwaner – mill worker
• Sylvia – hotel guest
• Teddy Rice – Vivian, in a fit of rage, hit him on the ankle with a tennis racket.
• Tilly Hatch – a friend of Vivian’s
• Verna Willet – married to Arthur; wears sapphires instead of diamonds
• Vivian Burton – smokes; a snob from Boston; 28 years old; birthday is in September; mother left when Vivian was eight; her father and his new wife went to vacation in Italy; has a housekeeper named Mrs. Ellis;
• William – Honora’s father; died in the explosion

Author fact: Shreve is a New England author.

Book trivia: I didn’t realize Sea Glass is the third installment in a trilogy about Fortune’s Rocks, the fictional New Hampshire town. Pilot’s Wife and Fortune’s Rocks round out the series.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Small-Town Life” (p 203).