The Correspondent

By:

Virginia Evans

Spice Scale

Number of books

1 Published

KU

❌

Audiobook

✅

Series Status

Complete

Interconnected

N/A

Overall Rating

Coming Soon

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is an epistolary novel chronicling the life of Sybil Van Antwerp, a 73-year-old retired lawyer, mother, grandmother, and divorcée who spends her mornings writing letters to family, friends, authors, university deans, and an unnamed recipient whose unsent missives hold her deepest regrets. Living quietly amid gardening clubs and neighbors, Sybil grapples with grief over her son Gilbert's childhood death, guilt from past mistakes, adoption revelations, impending blindness, and strained relationships with her distant daughter Fiona and ex-husband Daan in Belgium. When unexpected letters from her past resurface painful memories, she confronts long-buried trauma, seeks forgiveness for herself and others, forges new connections—including with a troubled young man—and embarks on a late-life rebirth blending miraculous and mundane moments in this poignant tale of literature's solace, family secrets, and human resilience.

Jamie’s review

Goddamnittttttt I'm sitting here crying, feeling all the FEELINGS UGH. How dare this book. How dare you, Virginia!

Started out a little slow and I wasn't sure I liked the letter format. The entire book is letters to and from Sybil Van Antwerp, an elderly woman who is my spirit animal with her crotchety, snarky, and stickler personality.

But of course, under the col exterior is the most lovable, misunderstood, good intentioned human. I laughed at Sybil's antics, I cried at Sybil's grief, I yelled at Sybil's mistakes, and I rejoiced at Sybil's wins.

Highly recommend.

Goddamnittttttt I'm sitting here crying, feeling all the FEELINGS UGH. How dare this book. How dare you, Virginia!

Highly recommend.