What readers think of The Correspondent, plus links to write your own review.

This is a ten-star book in a five-star world.

Epistolary novels are an interesting genre and the results can be hit or miss. This one is a big, fat hit in all connotations of the word. It is intelligent, captivating, and ingeniously plotted, especially since it's all done through letters written and received.

Written by Virginia Evans, this is the story of Sybil Van Antwerp, who at the start of the book is 73 years old. She lives alone in Arnold, Maryland, five miles north of Annapolis, in an old house that backs up to the scenic Severn River. Sybil is a letter-writer extraordinaire and always has been. She writes letters—the kind that are written on paper and sent in an envelope with a stamp—but will happily dash off an email when warranted. She writes letters to everyone, even her next-door neighbor. She writes to friends, family, and the occasional book author, including Ann Patchett, Joan Didion, Kazuo Ishiguro, Diana Gabaldon, and Larry McMurtry. She also writes to newspaper editors, lawmakers, teachers, and diplomats. She even writes regularly to a child who is the troubled son of a dear friend. And she writes to someone else—a lot—but never sends those letters.

Ominously, an anonymous person is writing threatening letters to her, blaming her for something she did many years ago in her career as a clerk to a judge. It is obvious this person not only knows where she lives, but also has visited and staked out the house and yard. In addition, she is struggling with her relationship with her daughter, Fiona, something that is close to estrangement and heartbreaking for them both.

Sybil is aging, and many of the emotional crises in her life are coming to a head now, including the death of her ex-husband, her ongoing grief of losing her son Gilbert when he was eight years old, her horrifying and frightening diagnosis that she is losing her eyesight, and startling discoveries from a DNA test kit. Sybil, who is a bit of a curmudgeon, is also learning how to be a kinder, more compassionate soul as she ages.

After the first few letters, I found it almost impossible to stop reading. It was that compelling!

And the ending? Oh, what a gut-punch it is.

A fun fact: Sybil's email address is a throwback: @aol.com. Since I spent most of my career as a writer/editor for AOL, it was fun seeing that email address again.

Much has been made over The Correspondent, which actually made me a little afraid to read it. Would it live up to the hype? I’m glad to say, it does. In spades. The story, told completely through letters and emails, follows Sybil through her seventies. Sybil has had what anyone would consider a full life - lawyer, wife, mother, friend, reader. But that doesn’t mean it’s been an easy one - the death of a young child, a divorce, a fraught relationship with one of her remaining children, the gradual loss of her eyesight.

I immediately felt a kinship with Sybil, and not just because we are of similar ages. Her life has been deeply enriched by reading and almost every letter includes what she’s been reading and asking others what they are. Reading has helped bring meaning to her life. But also, as she is closer to the end than the beginning of life, she has started re-thinking decisions she has made. It hits all the big topics - guilt, forgiveness (of others and self), marriage, family and motherhood, finding balance in our lives.

What is unique about her, especially in this day and age, is that she still corresponds the old fashion way - with pen and paper. She wants there to be a record of her correspondence, unlike the impermanence of emails and texts. She made me want to get back to writing letters. She writes to everyone - authors, editors, university deans, a customer service rep - in addition to friends and family. I especially loved that she wrote to authors. It makes me hope that the reviews I write of books I have loved have somehow made it onto the author’s radar.

I both read and listened to this. The audio is wonderful, with a full cast. But I’m so glad I also had the book so I could highlight all the passages that tugged at my heart.

“The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans has received some fair comparisons to the Olive Kitteridge series, thanks to its retired, misanthropic heroine. As a quirky epistolary, the obvious similarities end there. I haven’t read many collections of letters, and I didn't see the appeal. Evans does and develops a great character and story about a life well-lived with regrets and what-ifs.

Cynicism will say that you cannot fall in love with a character if all of the action takes place off the page, but Evans ends those fears quite efficiently. It will inspire you to write to friends via snail mail and maintain communication. Even the customer service at a DNA testing organization inspires a back-and-forth that shows Sybil’s enviable persistence.

Maintaining correspondence is a lost art that many of us have not mastered or implemented since the ‘90s. Sybil has enough introverted extroversion for us to meet her this way. Evans embodies this through the inclusion of “unsent” messages, showing the self-editing necessary and the uncanny power of unspoken thoughts. You relate to this quirky 77-year-old woman more and more.

All the communication builds to something I will not reveal, and the late climax makes it a surprise. You do not get the point until it hits you hard. We, as humans, tend to underestimate the written word as opposed to the spoken, even though many of us do not appreciate the tact that comes with writing before speaking foolishly.

The best novels do not tell what they are about, but rather allow you to experience the life of the protagonist and empathize. Sybil will make you apprehensive about getting older and allowing regret to fester. In a society where letter writing died in the 1990s, you will envy Sybil for saying (in sent and unsent mail) what many cannot.