Told in epistolary (letters) format, the story centres around Sybil Van Antwerp, a septuagenarian who uses letters to communicate and connect with those around her, as well as celebrities, authors and anyone else she thinks needs to know her thoughts.
Sybil is not everyone's cuppa tea. She's a retired lawyer who is opinionated and far from perfect. She has her flaws, her struggling relationships and tends to keep the people closest to her at arm's length. She finds it much easier to communicate via letters and, at times, she can be obstinate and prickly while also oversharing with random strangers she meets - notably a customer service rep, famous authors, and a poor university Dean who is the focus of Sybil's doggedly persistent wrath.
This is a story that veers a bit into melodrama but has a heartwarming scene or two that made me tear up. It's a story about grudges, grief, love, mistakes, reconnection, regrets and secrets. Evans put my initial concerns about the epistolary format to rest early on and I know I will reread this book at a later time since I get the feeling I missed some layers that the author skillfully wove into the story.
My Rating:4.25 stars
Author: Virginia Evans
Genre: Literary Fiction, Epistolary
Type and Source: Hardcover, personal copy
Publisher: Crown Publishing
First Published: April 29, 2025
Read: July 13-16, 2026
Book Description from GoodReads: “Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”
Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.
Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.
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