ABSTRACTRAYMOND SCOTT SEABROOK. Strength in Silver. (Under the direction of BRYN CHANCELLOR, M.F.A.) Preliminary chapters to a historic novel, Strength in Silver follows the lives of three women of the same family over the course of more than one hundred years. Their stories are set against the backdrops of the American Civil War, Women’s Suffrage and ERA. They each start their stories in different parts of North Carolina from the mountains to the country to the city. Not only are the three linked in heritage, but by a stolen box of silverware and the unfathomable tale that goes along with it as well. Each of these women face the hardships of not only their respective lives, but the times that surround, shape and guide them. They reveal how strength can be an inherent thing, but also how personal and social struggle can reinforce that fortitude to do things that in other circumstances may not be considered.
