The Correspondent
About the book
Author: Virginia Evans
Publisher: Crown
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print or ebook) | Libro.fm (audio)
My review
For some reason, I wasn’t initially very interested in reading this book. Something about the flavor of the hype around it made me think it was going to skew a little more commercial/book club than my typical taste in literary fiction. But then it won the Women’s Prize, and I’ve read every single book that’s ever won the Women’s Prize, and I don’t plan to break that streak any time soon. Y’all. I am SO GLAD that happened, because WOW WAS I WRONG! This book is a tender, emotional masterclass in the epistolary novel, and I fully expect it to land on my list of favorite books of the year.
As the title suggests, the main character — a retired attorney named Sybil Van Antwerp — is a writer of letters. She has written letters to everyone from her loved ones to authors of her favorite books throughout her entire life. This book, structured entirely in letters she writes and receives, starts just after the death of her former law partner and extends over the course of several years that follow. As we read, layers and layers of her life are peeled aside for us, including her deepest regrets and even the pieces of her heart she can’t bear to look at directly. By the end, the book asks: what makes a life? How do aging and our impending mortality change us? What is gained in the art of correspondence, and what is lost? And what does it mean to know someone, to know ourselves?
I can’t go on with this review without begging you to listen to the audiobook edition of this novel, whether you listen only (as I did) or tandem read alongside a print copy. It’s performed by a deeply talented full cast, and when I tell you how I cried! How I cried multiple times! Especially the very end. I could not believe how affected I was. It won an Audie Award in addition to its Women’s Prize, and for good reason.
I can’t believe I almost didn’t read this book. Don’t be like almost-me! Please listen to it!
Content and trigger warnings
Death of one’s child
Grief
Cancer
Suicide attempt (minor)
