Book Review: The Correspondent

I picked up The Correspondent by Virginia Evans a while ago after seeing it as so many people’s favorite reads last year. All I knew about the book was that it was told in epistolary form, meaning the whole book is told through letters. I loved the style and it was written so well that it was hard to put down because I wanted to keep reading letter after letter.

The main character in this novel is Sybil Van Antwerp. We follow along as she writes letters to numerous people – some in her life and some famous people – over the course of a few years, starting from 2012 and ending in 2022. And we read some of the letters she receives in response and to her in general. Sybil writes to her family and friends about things going on in her life, what she’s reading, what’s going on in other people’s lives, and some letters to famous writers and artists either critiquing their work or expressing her love for their work.

When the novel begins, Sybil is a retired lawyer living in Annapolis. She has been divorced for decades and her children are adults who are married with families of their own. We follow Sybil’s life over the course of 9-10 years through the letters she writes and the ones she receives.

At times I didn’t find Sybil likable. She came off sometimes as selfish and judgmental, which actually felt a little realistic because some of the things she would say just seem like things relatives of mine that are in their 60s & 70s would say. Those things that maybe aren’t intentionally offensive but are because they don’t know better or maybe just cause they’re older and don’t care. But anyway, the point is at times she wasn’t that likable, but as the letters go on and the years pass I did find Sybil to grow as a person and become an even better person. I found that fascinating because you wouldn’t assume an older woman to still be able to evolve and change. By the time the novel was over, I grew to really like Sybil.

This book got an honorable mention from me in my July favorites. For me, it was one of those books that I enjoyed while reading and after I finished and sat with it a while I appreciated even more.

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