The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
The Correspondent is Virginia Evans' debut novel and wow, what a stunner. It was published in April of 2025 and has become a #1 New York Times Bestseller, Was Longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Libby Award for Debut Author of the Year, Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, and The Andrew Carnegie Medal. It won the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction and was chosen as Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Elle, and She Reads. It is an epistolary novel, meaning it is told almost entirely through correspondence to and from the main character, so everything that you read about is told after the fact. It deals with references to animal death, cancer, child death, infertility, infidelity, the loss of a parent, grief, a car accident, pregnancy, and abandonment.
Sybil Stone Van Antwerp has written letters practically since she could hold a pen. She has an ongoing correspondence with friends, her brother in France, and her best friend Rosalie. She has no problem writing to authors to tell them how much she enjoyed their book (or didn't) or striking up a friendship with the odd customer service representative. She finds that while writing letters, she can really focus and organize her thoughts. That may mean her letters are edited and re-written. So be it. A phone call is just so much less thoughtful. And sometimes, you have to dig out your old correspondence for one reason or another. Sybil finds herself in that situation when one event after another forces her to look back at the most difficult and painful event she has ever experienced.
What a beautiful book. I cannot overstate how lovely this book was. It is fast moving, spanning several years of time, but I did not find it to be confusing at all. Because of the way the book is written through letters and emails, you do not see the minutiae of Sybil's life. Only the big things are detailed. This means that there are several different plotlines to follow but it also means that you are never bored. Again, I never felt confused or that the different plots were hard to keep straight, it was surprisingly easy to keep everything organized and the majority of the plotlines eventually bring Sybil back so that she can finally face her past. The characters were likeable and relatable. This is a steady, calm book - there is no action whatsoever. But it is funny and it is poignant and it is gorgeous. The ending moved me to tears. And just now, thinking about the ending nearly made me cry again.
I'm giving The Correspondent by Virginia Evans 5 stars. Absolutely recommend. I would recommend this book to anyone. It's very short, separated into letters so very easy to pick up and put down only minutes later if you need to, and very well narrated if you want to listen to it (which I did).
To learn more about the author, check out https://www.virginiaevansauthor.com/
Pairs well with cherry streusal cake and finding yourself a good walking stick.
My favorite quotes:
"I still loved him, I suppose. I just couldn't bear him."
"I could never trust a person who wasn't a reader."
"Well, where on god's green earth is the man?"
"You know I am tall on the inside."
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