Sea-glass is something we have probably all picked up at one time or another, if we’ve spent any time on a beach. I’ll pick up any pieces I spot on a walk along Wittering beach and, whenever I sit on the shingle, I’ll be raking my fingers through the pebbles, searching. After years of living near the sea with children, the collection of such ‘treasures’ along the shoreline has left me with an assortment of bottles filled sea-glass in various sizes and shapes, misty colours in shades of green, white and brown, as well as my favourite, the cobalt blue.

What is it that we find alluring about the chips of coloured glass? For me it’s the texture and colour, the connection with the sea and the mystery of where and what have they come from, these broken fragments rolled on the ocean’s bed for who knows how many years, smoothed and frosted by the motion of waves against sand and pebbles until they are in some way whole again. Sea glass invites the beachcomber to pause, to hold each piece up to the light and wonder at its origins, the story behind its journey. Sea-glass is rare, but not too rare, and it’s free. I’m sure I’m not alone in preferring sea-glass to diamonds.

Designer Harriet McAlonan and I came across each other on twitter – I can’t remember how, but I’m guessing it was through our shared passion for the sea. Browsing the  Sea Sparkle website, filled with beautiful bracelets, necklaces and earrings fashioned in silver with sea glass collected from Devon and Cornwall’s beaches, I bought some of Harriet’s delicate jewellery for myself and my daughters.

When Harriet read The Devil’s Music, she was inspired to make her own version of a bracelet the mother, Helen, receives at the end of the novel. The bracelet arrives in an envelope from Crete in a padded Jiffy envelope, and is in the form of a Celtic shield knot, which Helen takes as a clue it is a gift made by the son she has not seen since he was nine years old. I was delighted when Harriet sent me a picture of a similar bracelet she’d made, inspired by the knot work described in the novel. So, although Harriet’s bracelet is not yet available for sale, she and I have teamed together to offer a special Christmas Giveaway: Harriet’s Get Knotted necklace comes with a FREE signed copy of The Devil’s Music – for all those who, like us, love the sea.