This is novel was just not at all what I was expecting.

I didn’t expect it to be as propulsive as it was. Though several people had raved about it, I had no idea that I’d be racing through its pages, trying to put pieces together. Not unlike a Janice Hallett novel, honestly.

I also didn’t really grok how much I ‘d love our lead character, Sybil, who’s in her 70s. She’s so smart and had an illustrious career, which was fascinating to learn about. And Sybil is so sure of herself and her opinions. And forthright as the day is long. I guess you could even possibly describe her as a curmudgeon, but she’ s so much more nuanced that just that. She’s a whole person, doled out, laid out on these pages. As with the Janice Hallett novels, there’s this delicious feeling that you are reading something that is incredibly private and somehow you’ve gotten your hands on that. I don’t love the part of myself that relishes in this. But, there we are.

Virginia Evans has created in Sybil one of those fully wrought characters that you feel like you have known forever. And yes, you often want to smack them upside the head as they make decisions you know aren’t going to play out well, but you understand her, every step of the way. And love her for her flaws, and her valiant attempts to make her life right. She is always trying to learn, to be better, to connect, in all her fallible ways. The striving for it is so courageous to me.

And there’s this small through line of mystery in this novel I wasn’t expecting. This is of course not a mystery at all, but I love it when you get just a little side portion of something that makes you say “wait, what?” And then that plays out all through the novel, finally being masterfully threaded into the whole.

I’m not ashamed to say that I finished this book a teary mess. I was so gutted at the end. Not because it’s especially sad, but because I was so moved to have known Sybil and the long sweep of her life.

This book will absolutely be on my top 10 of the year, if not top 5. It was just exactly what my reading needed at the moment.

I loved this book. The Correspondent is a tender, intimate portrait of a woman’s relationships—past and present—told entirely through her letters and emails. It’s a deceptively simple premise, but Virginia Evans uses it to explore something much deeper: the complexities, contradictions, and frequent failures of human communication.

What moved me most was how the form mirrors the emotional texture of the story—what’s said, what’s left unsaid, and how connection can slip through the cracks even when people are reaching for each other. Through these fragments of correspondence, we get a vivid sense of her longing, her missteps, and her deep, quiet capacity for love.

It’s clever, melancholy, and beautifully constructed. Highly recommend.

In this unique and fascinating epistolary novel, readers follow the life of Sybil Van Antwerp as she must take stock of her life, including one of the most painful parts that she has pushed down and avoided. Having written letters her entire life to loved ones, friends, the president of a nearby university, and authors, Sybil has also written many letters to one person in particular but never sends them -- but, perhaps, the time has come to finally send it. As Sybil’s fascinatingly complex life is revealed to readers in this unique novel, readers will also discover how important this final letter is. Unique, fascinating, and insightful, this book’s engaging premise and structure will really pull readers into the story and reveal Sybil’s life story in a fascinating manner. The structure of the book really highlights the thought and emotion put into letters, which is a nice sentiment that adds to the depth of the book. The characters are well-written and develop in some interesting ways, and readers will love the differences between Sybil’s letters and the “real world.” Unique, fascinating, and entertaining, this emotional and thoughtful new book is a great and interesting new read that readers will enjoy.

I found this to be an interesting and new way to read a book. You learn about characters through letter's written to each other. I loved the characters but sometimes I didn't like the the main character. I laughed out loud in some parts and was sad during other parts. That is the art of letter writing, or should I say lost art. Good book by Virginia Evans. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Interesting book. I found the format of the book, all letters, to be creative, I had great difficulty connecting the characters and remembering who was who. The main character, the letter writer, seemed to be a complicated women with fascinating tales. Thanks #NetGalley

Easy 5⭐️ One of my favorite books of all time. I loved how complex Sybil was portrayed. Her arc was compelling. Fantastic debut!

This was a beautiful book. The author did such a good job of making the characters feel so real and the words dance around on the pages. I fell in love with the MC and I feel so much love for her. Thanks for writing such a beautiful book, it was such a pleasure to read.

A beautiful, captivating story told in such a unique fashion! I love how fresh this one felt. As someone who reads a lot, I'm always on the lookout for books that bring something new, and this one definitely achieved that for me! A great exploration of aging and self-realization. Highly recommend!

Another 5 star read for me! This year has been an excess of great novels. Loved this epistolary story about V and her life.

This book is ALL THE THINGS. I fell in love with Sybil, just like everyone will. I adore Harry and Theodore and even Mick. What a delightful story of how a life unfolds through letters. I love an epistolary title and this one is one of the best. I was particularly touched by the letter to Larry McMurtry and just wish it wasn't over so soon.

This is a brilliantly well written book, filled with a certain septuagenarian’s inner thoughts, musings and letters. Sybil Van Antwerp is old school, preferring to pen her thoughts to whomever she feels she needs to expound her thoughts, commentary, friendship, reminiscences. She is an artful writer and each letter was a small treasure. She is a master at a swiftly dying means of communication. How interesting to discover her life through her letters as each one reveals just a little more. Small in physical stature only, she is a giant in her epistolary work. “I am an old woman and my life has been some strange balance of miraculous and mundane.” Read her letters, discover her meaning, enjoy each gem.

While I was completely impressed by “The Correspondent” I was equally taken with the reviews of this book which have been extraordinary in their thoughtfulness. A million thanks to Crown and NetGalley for allowing me a copy of this wonderful book.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is a beautifully crafted novel that celebrates the written word and its power to connect individuals across time and space with a beautifully written letter by Sybil.

This was a beautiful read and if you love epistolary novels, do not skip this one! A compelling and rewarding read!

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review in exchange for an honest review.

Written with empathy and wisdom, this debut epistolary novel was an easy five star read for me.

The protagonist, Sybil Van Antwerp, is a fiercely intelligent woman who is riddled with guilt and self-recrimination. She has now retired from a distinguished career in the law, is divorced, and is mother to two adult children. Her third child, Gilbert, died when he was only eight years old.

Many people today find the practice of letter writing to be antiquated. It is a practice whose popularity has all but waned. Sybil knows this, yet everyday she sits at her desk and pens letters. Over the years she has written thousands and thousands of missives to everyone from family and friends, to politicians, diplomats, and authors. She believes that “reaching out in correspondence is really one of the original forms of civility in the world.”

“People are just people. Famous or not.”

Sybil is an attractive septuagenarian who has two men vying for her attentions despite her age and diminutive stature. She says what she means, and tries to be genuine in all her communications. She is also losing her sight…

“Remember: words, especially those written, are immortal.”

The novel, written in the form of letters and emails, gives the reader an uncompromising glimpse into Sybil’s life, loves, regrets, guilt, and culpability. The tricky dynamics of family life, and the fact that Sybil was adopted as a child, play a significant role in the novel. Also, the complexities of nothing in life being black or white, but varying shades of grey.

Book lovers will rejoice in the fact that at the end of nearly every letter she writes, she tells her correspondent what she is reading and asks what they are reading.

In summation, “The Correspondent” was a novel written with skill and compassion. I’ll be eager to read more work by this talented author.

Loved this epistolary novel of a woman who loves to write letters - to anyone and everyone - celebrities, book sellers, friends and the like. This is an unusual novel that felt fresh and interesting. Well done!

Review link coming soon.

I love epistolary novels, and this one hit it out of the park! It beautifully told the story through Sibyl's correspondences with so many people and just made the characters all come to life through their letters! I loved this book so much!

This book is for anyone who has ever thought of themselves as a fraud… or for those who love books about older people… or expository texts… or books about mothers and children …. Or grief or loss

This is such a beautiful book that makes you think about your own parenting, parents and relationships.

Told exclusively through letters, Sybil Van Antwerp lets us know her usually through the correspondence people send to her, and occasionally through things she writes. She conducts most of her life through letters - to authors of books she is reading, to neighbors, to her children, to her best friends. Her middle child died when he was 8 years old, and she has never recovered. Now retired, she considers many things in her life.

Brava Virginia Evans on this utterly astounding debut epistolary novel! The character development is remarkable especially since we get to know each of these characters over the course of a decade through their correspondence alone. I will miss all of these interesting characters, most notably Sybil Van Antwerp and her persnickety ways. And Henry, I need to know that he will be okay. (Yes, I know he’s fictional but I can’t help myself.)

I will recommend this book to everyone. It’s beautifully written and an amazing love letter to correspondence and literature. I loved that the letters to and from friends always included what they were currently reading and an inquiry as to what the other was reading. A truly outstanding novel and I hope we get to read many more books by this author. All the stars in the sky to this magnificent book.

The Correspondent is a literal love letter to reading and writing, and a celebration of the messy beauty of life. This epistolary novel comprises the correspondence of Sybil Van Antwerp, a septuagenarian who sits down each morning to write her daily letters and emails. She writes to authors whose books she loved, to friends and family, to neighbors, to newspaper editors and strangers…And on many days, she adds a few paragraphs to one particular letter to an anonymous recipient, still unsent years after it was begun.

There’s something about the act of writing a letter that makes it seem less scary to be vulnerable. It’s such a deliberate process, from the time it takes to handwrite a letter to the time it takes for the recipient to receive it – it seems romantic and almost required to pour one’s heart out, to write profoundly and with honesty. It’s easier to write things, most of the time, than to say them – even given the permanence of the written word, or maybe because of it. Over the course of The Correspondent, we get the story of Sybil’s life – given to us by Sybil herself, and by the replies she receives to her letters. The result is a fully-formed portrait of a complex woman who, over the seven decades of her life, has had many accomplishments and many regrets that still crush her under the weight of grief and guilt. We learn that Sybil has a degenerative eye disease that will cause her to go blind, and that she effectively thinks her life is over. But we realize, along with Sybil, that her life and her relationships are still blooming and expanding.

The Correspondent is such a life-affirming book, so poignant and meaningful, and also very funny and clever. Sybil has an acerbic wit and strong opinions, which she isn’t afraid to share, but she’s gentle and kind beneath her prickly persona. And she’s not incapable of growth, either; she has a beautiful redemptive arc. Using only their own words, Virginia Evans really gets to the imperfect, gorgeous hearts of Sybil and the book’s other characters, creating so much empathy and love for all of them. The Correspondent was my favorite book of the year so far, and I’m going to be recommending it to everyone.

Loved this novel from beginning to end! This novel is so well written and the story is so touching. The story is told through letters and paints a picture of a thoroughly failed, imperfect and absolutely wonderful person. You will cry and laugh (sometimes at the same time) while reading this!

Did not read. Have way too many books on my shelf - need to cut back. Hoping to get to it in the future though.