This is sort of an addictive read. Getting to know her through letters alone, we get invested in her life.. It is a life well-lived but touched with regret and tragedy. It was a page-turner, keeping me up far later than is good for me. It started a little slowly as the reader gets acquainted with Sybil. Many times I wished for a flow chart to follow the relationships of everyone involved, but soon you are as attached to each and every one of them as Sybil is. As you get closer to the final page, you know you will miss her when it is done.

This was a unique epistolary novel about one woman’s correspondence with those ranging from close family and friends to authors and customer service agents. At the beginning, I was unsure if I liked Sybil who seemed to be the archetype for elderly women who have lost all filter. As I read, the storyline revealed more depth and I genuinely felt like she was a real person. Propulsive and slice of life at the same time, we experience the romance, grief, family drama, mystery, and mundanity in Sybil’s life. As we experience in our own lives, our existence is not boiled down to one genre. Also like our real lives, they are messy and don’t always have a tidy ending.

-There are also many great book references which are the perfect addition to the reader experience.

TW: loss of a child, mental illness, adoption, parental abandonment.

It’s a rare thing to find a perfect book, but this is one to me that could not have been improved-10/10 zero notes. Sybil is complex and deeply imperfect and i loved her with my whole heart by the end of this book. I was sad to finish her letters-i would read 500 pages more of them. This will rip your heart out and put it back together.

The Correspondent is a well written book particularly for fans of epistolary fiction. The one thing I could not get past was the age of the main character. She was written as if she was 90 and then I read that she was 73. I had a hard time getting past that. Most 73 year old and much more vital and forward thinking than this character.

Beware: You may be inspired to write letters after reading this epistolary novel. Sybil Van Antwerp is retired and lives alone in Maryland. She spends a great deal of time writing letters, her preferred method of communication. She writes not only to her friends, neighbors, and family, but to famous people- some of whom write back. She also writes unsent letters to an unnamed correspondent. Through the letters Sybil gradually reveals herself and her past and present. She writes about her hopes, regrets, grief, fears. Sybil is going blind. Her life is going to change.

This book is poignant. I wanted to keep reading. I want to read it again. I definitely will because I plan to share this book with my book club. I hope there will be an audiobook with a full cast or multi voice narration.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Crown Publishing for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. This book is written as a series of letters. The main character, Sybil, is in her 70's and lives in Arnold Md, near Annapolis. She is a divorcee, retired Lawyer, mother and friend. She writes to her friends, her family, her neighbor, a young man who is the son of a friend, and assorted people such as Joan Didion, and Larry McMurtry. And they write back to her. She also writes a long unfinished letter to someone, that is never sent. The letters span the time frame from 2012 to 2021. She details her life and the lives of those around her. She loves to write, and read. And she is slowly going blind. This sounds like a tragic, sad book. And it is sad. But it is also full of life, and humor and change. I enjoyed this book very much.

My first look at the cover told me that this would be a tender and charming novel. But once I started reading, that feeling of home and comfort and warmth flowed through my veins. Epistolary novels always draw me in as I enjoy the idea of letters and love the unique way of learning about characters and events through them.

Seventy-three-year-old Sybil Van Antwerp is a former lawyer and lifelong letter writer. She began writing as a child when she wrote to a very famous author who, to her delight, responded. She discovered most people did answer and used that medium to keep in contact with various people including her brother, her daughter, a DNA testing company, authors, neighbour, college dean, and Harry, a teenager. It was fun to read the different styles and vocabulary used in the correspondence. Some were conversational in tone, others terse. I liked the mentions of what others were reading (crucial!). Each letter reveals thoughts, happenings and emotions. Sybil is the type of person I'd love to have a chat with over tea.

Oh, how I loved this novel! Though at times sad, it was uplifting and evoked nostalgia. A pure pleasure to read. It would be refreshing to encounter more like this. I have beautiful stationery and am now motivated to write letters I have been putting off.

4.5 stars. I love "epistolary" novels, only partly because I love the word epistolary!

Sybil Stone Van Antwerp is having a solitary, peaceful retirement in a small house with a garden and a river view near Annapolis, Maryland. After a successful law career, she's enjoying solitude of "tea, books, and garden". She has been writing letters since she was nine, and much prefers it as method of communication over telephone calls, email, and quite frankly, sometimes more than face to face interactions. She's also going blind.

this book is quiet and heartbreaking and uplifting and goes in directions I wasn't expecting.

Harking back to a time gone by when writing letters was the primary mode of communication Sybil van Antwerp sits down daily with pen and paper. It is those letters we read we learn more and more about Sybil's daily life and her past. Despite her certainty that life no longer holds new challenges and experiences, through her correspondence she is forced to confront her past and enter into relationships that stretch her to come to terms with regrets that haunt her. Beautifully written, The Correspondent is an endearing tale of closure at the end of life.

This is a beautiful heartwarming story. Told through letters, the writing style was engaging and kept me invested from start to finish. Sybil’s ups and downs, along with her quirks, made her such a joy to read, and I was deeply invested in her journey. I found myself laughing at her wit and crying during her more vulnerable moments.

This relatable story inspired me to reflect on my own relationships, making me want to become a better daughter and mother. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book deserves ALL the stars. Wow. A real masterpiece. The tenderness of the characters - just amazingly well-drawn storylines that tug and pull. This book is THE example of why fiction is so important.

Initially, it was a little tricky to track who was writing what letters, but STICK WITH IT, dear readers -- stay the course. You will laugh, you will cry, you will want to write letters after having read this book. I stopped about 60% in and basically demanded to a friend that she read this book (I've never done something like that). May this book receive ALL the publicity.

Thank you, Virginia Evans for putting this moving book into the world.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy.

I found this very moving, it explored life, loss, and human connections through letters. The writing was beautiful, I really enjoyed this read. Thank you NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the arc.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published April 29, 2025.

This book is written entirely in letters and emails. The main character is 73 year old Sybil. She lives alone and loves to write letters. We get to eavesdrop on her relationships with her best friend, her family, her neighbor, a kind man working at a DNA testing company, the Dean of a college plus many famous authors - all though her correspondence.

Themes include family, secrets and books. I really enjoyed this book.

I read this as an egalley, and I can only imagine how proper layout and separation between the letters will enhance it!
Kind of like a cross between Cat Brushing and the Thursday Murder Club series, in that the narrator is a septuagenarian still firmly in control of her faculties and with a sharp mind who has found herself pushed out of society, mainly by choice, and who is fiercely clinging onto autonomy. Though there's even a touch of romance, the main theme of the book is how split-second bad decisions can have tragic effects that last many decades and ripple out to hurt others, and what kind of grace those decision-makers deserve. This is also a love letter to certain books and authors, mainly Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry, though Kazuo Ishiguro is mentioned; to the act of reading; and most of all to the act of writing, specifically, corresponding, ideally with paper and pen.
Though Sybil Stone is prickly and private, the reader can't help respecting her, learning about her life, and finally wishing her the best. The epistolary format both made the book easy to digest and hard to put down--I'll just read one more, I thought, but then a letter would reference a tense situation, and I'd need to resolve it. Though there are mentions of child death, addiction, marital dissolution, and mental health crises, all are handled slowly and in a respectful fashion. I will be recommending this to anyone interested in a story that centers people over 60, or people who are still learning and growing.

The Correspondent is an absolutely beautiful book! The characters became so real to me that I frequently forgot that this was fictional. What a gift to be able to read this advance copy! I will eagerly read any other works by Virginia Evans.
This story dealt with some heavy issues and yet resolved them in a very real and heart warming way. I will definitely be purchasing a copy for my bookshelf to re-read and to take note of all the other stories and authors mentioned.
Thank you, Virginia for taking the time to pour your heart into this book and share it with us!

The art of letter writing is used to excellent effect in this spare, lovely slice-of-life story. Sybil Van Antwerp is in her 70s and has lived a full life. One of her favorite pastimes is sitting down at her desk and penning letters. Sybil writes to everyone: family, friends, acquaintances, antagonists, and authors whose books she has read. When one letter arrives that forces her to examine a particularly painful memory, Sybil needs to muster the courage to open her heart and go beyond the safety of letters.

The Correspondent is a book of letters. Sybil Van Antwerp, a 70-something woman who lives alone, spends regular hours at her desk taking care of her correspondence, just as she has done her whole life. She writes to her brother and her best friend. She writes to former colleagues and acquaintances she met through her career as a lawyer and judicial clerk. She writes to a teenage boy who has shared his secret troubles and fears with her and with whom she has shared some of her own secrets. She writes to authors whose books she has enjoyed, including Ann Patchett and Larry McMurtry. She has a regular correspondence with Joan Didion. And she writes, regularly and continuously, to someone who is unnamed and unknown until the very end. Though all these letters, we get a complete view of her life's struggles and triumphs, from her early years as an adopted child who felt so unlike her peers at school; to the loss of one of her children and her subsequent divorce; to the struggles in her later life to maintain a relationship with her daughter and her diagnosis of a degenerative eye condition that will eventually take her sight. Though the letters she writes and the letters she receives, we learn about her regrets and the things she blames herself for, and we are able to see how even a woman in her 70s who has had a long, satisfying life can still learn new things, can find ways to right the wrongs, and can find new ways to experience joy. It's a beautiful, quiet novel -- one that will likely make you want to write a letter!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review. It will be published April 29, 2025.

4.5/5 ⭐️ My heart! This book is written in letter style, which I don’t usually enjoy but it added such a sweet, well rounded element to it. It makes you connect to Sybil that much more. Her letters tugged on my heartstrings multiple times and I loved the dynamic and depth to it. I’m so happy to have read this book.

This took me four hours to read, I couldn’t put it down! I know the joy of letter writing so this resonated with me. I loved that Sybil was full of opinions, feelings and practicalities. She could open her heart and kindness to strangers but struggled to connect with her children. You knew there was a deep seated trauma there and Evans teased it out in such a natural way. Sybil was sharp tongued, witty and always had the best intentions. I want a Sybil in my life looking out for me! I would enjoy watching this on screen.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliant novel about a woman who has an amazing relationship with the written word but has a terrible time expressing words that need to be spoken.