Virginia Evans
Fiction 2025 | 284pages
"I believe one ought to be precious with communication." Sybil, page 123
Sybil Van Antwerp is a writer. Not an author, but a writer of letters. She has thousands of letters that she has received over the years (we follow her life from age 73 to 79) and has written even more. She writes to family members, to professional acquaintances, and, interestingly, to authors of books she has read, creating a literary subplot.
At the beginning of The Correspondent, I made a list of who Sybil was writing to, thinking the number of characters would be confusing. But it wasn't at all. Not only does each letter end with the name of the writer, but Evans does an excellent job of making the correspondent's voices unique in this, her first, and excellent, fiction book.
I appreciated how Sybil writes challenging letters as well as loving ones. She writes to people she is close to, like her friend Rosalie (they close every letter with the title of the book each is reading), and to people who threaten her, like DZ, a former client from her days working in law. She writes to her ex-husband and her children, becomes an important figure in the life of a teenage boy, and manages to have two romances as a septuagenarian.
I enjoyed The Correspondent a great deal. I thought it would be an interesting way to write one's memoir, as a series of letters. I surely recommend it ... it took only a weekend to read. I look forward to your comments on this blog post because it seems almost everyone I know has read this book, is reading it, or is waiting in a long line at the library for it to become available.
I think my opening quote from Sybil tells us a great deal about who she is and what is imperative in this book. You might have to read it twice ... she doesn't say "precise," she says "precious." It is still causing me to ponder as I type this post.
March 2026
Dang, I DID make some final changes to this post, such as spelling it correspondents’ instead of correspondent’s. Guess I neglected to save my final changes.
I loved it too. It was surprisingly easy to read. I usually don’t like epistemological books. Usually I find the structure exhausting, but this time I felt each person through their writing and now that I’ve read your post I realize it is because of Evans’ masterful use of different voices. So thank you for that. And thank you for your blog. I always read it first.
Thanks so much, Sigal!
I’m one of those on a wait list. After reading your review, I’m even more excited about this book.
What is your place in line? Whatnumber on how many copies? I very much look forward to your impressions.
Your review actually helped me to put together different aspects of her story. It was a bit difficult for me to keep track of all of the characters, but as I read your review, I remembered all of these folks and how they manifested in Sybil’s life. I particularly liked her discovery of her sister, and her evolving relationship with her daughter, and how other relationship—with Rosalie and the two men in her life—-helped her in her other relationships. As one who sees the world in relationship terms, they are given their due—their importance—in shaping a life in this book. I read this book more quickly than I usually do, and I identified with Sybil and her reflections on aging.