Rating: 3.5 In a nutshell: Sybil is a retired, divorced law clerk who writes letters (and occasionally emails) to pretty much anyone and everyone. We get a look at the letters she sends (and receives) over the course of a decade. Best for: Those who enjoy small stories that take place over longer periods of time. Quote that made me think: N/A (which is kind of surprising) Why I chose it: Book club. Review: This is an interesting way to tell someone’s story. It is […]

I’ve always enjoyed a good epistolary novel, and The Correspondent (2025) by Virginia Evans is no different. I saw The Correspondent on a number of year-end, best-of lists and decided to give it a try. I figured an old lady writing a bunch of letters would be a slow, contemplative novel. I was wrong. Although The Correspondent was contemplative, the story was surprisingly compelling. I had a hard time putting this book down. The Correspondent begins with 73-year-old Sybil Van Antwerp writing to her brother, who lives in France. It is 2012 […]

As suggested by the title, The Correspondent is presented as a collection of letters. Most of them are written by Sybil Van Antwerp, a retired lawyer and chief clerk for a federal judge. At the start of the book, Sybil is living alone, having divorced her husband years before. She has a contentious relationship with her daughter Fiona, an architect living in London. Sybil has been a lifelong proponent of letter-writing, and has kept up the practice to the annoyance of many of her friends […]