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Every December, I write one letter. It’s my Christmas letter, and by now it’s kind of a whole production. People wait for it. Some have told me it’s the reason they still open their mail. Some have told me it’s their favorite piece of literature they read all year. Well, maybe they didn’t so much say that with their words, as much as they said it with their eyes. I’m very perceptive.
Anyway, I take my annual Christmas letter writing seriously (in my sincerely unserious way.) It’s probably the closest thing to a writing habit I had before Essays Out of Left Field existed. But The Correspondent by Virginia Evans takes letter writing to a new stratosphere.
The Correspondent follows a retired lawyer writing to family, strangers, and old enemies. The entire novel is built entirely through letters (or “correspondence”.) And somehow, it works. Brilliantly. Sybil Van Antwerp is out here writing dozens and dozens of letters a year to my one. By the end of it I wasn’t just entertained, I was a little inspired.
This is part of my 100 book reading goal for 2026 (Book #58)
My The Correspondent Book Review
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Where to Get It
Available in multiple formats, depending on how you like to read (or listen).
- 🎧 Audiobook (Indie Option): Listen on Libro.fm
- 🎧 Audiobook (Amazon Option): Listen on Audible
- 📚 Support Local Bookstores: Buy from Bookshop.org
- 📦 Amazon (Paperback/Kindle): View on Amazon
Book Summary
The Correspondent is Virginia Evans’ debut novel, and it follows Sybil Van Antwerp, a retired attorney and former chief clerk who is stubborn, sharp-tongued, and set in her ways. The phrase “hoity-toity” came to mind when I read it. The entire book unfolds through her letters over roughly a decade. Letters to her children. Letters to old friends. Letters to strangers she’s decided need her opinion. A few letters to people she probably shouldn’t be writing to at all.
Lots of different themes and somehow they all weave logically together. There’s grief, and aging, and health scares, and long friendships that have survived decades. There’s a mystery involving a connection from Sybil’s past that starts as a slow simmer and turns tense. And running underneath all of it is Sybil’s declining eyesight, which threatens to take away the one thing she loves most: writing and reading letters by hand.
You start out amused and maybe a bit annoyed by Sybil’s crankiness. But then end up fully invested in whether she gets to keep doing the thing that makes her feel like herself.
Who is Virginia Evans?
- ✍️ The Correspondent is her first published novel. (She has several unpublished works!)
- 📈 The book became a New York Times bestseller
- 🏡 She has a Bachelors in English Lit and Masters of Philosophy in Creative Writing
- Find Virginia here: https://www.virginiaevansauthor.com/
Ratings
My innovative system for rating humor books is explained here
Overall Awesomeness: 5/5
Loved the concept. Apparently this is called “epistolary writing,” a story told through documents rather than straightforward narration. I didn’t know that was the book’s format going in, otherwise I might have skipped it. Glad I didn’t. The letters flowed beautifully together, essentially acting as one-way dialogue. Lots of different themes in here too — grief, love, friendship, growing older, self-improvement, and more.
Things I Liked
- The full cast audiobook. Every letter-writer got their own voice, and it made a book with dozens of correspondents easy to follow.
- How the “just letters” format actually builds real tension, especially around the mystery thread from Sybil’s past
- Sybil herself. Cranky, opinionated, occasionally impossible.
Things I Didn’t Like
- It made me feel bad about my 1 heroic letter-writing effort per year. How does a person write that many letters? Even if that person is fictional?
The One Thing I’m Taking With Me
Sybil spends most of the book being stubborn, occasionally selfish, and pretty sure she’s already got everyone and everything figured out. But little cracks start to show. She lets herself change her mind. She takes a shot at repairing strained relationships. One of the book’s quiet themes is that it’s never too late to do that. Never too late to change, never too late to patch things up, never too late to admit you might’ve been wrong about something.
If you’ve got an Audible or Libro.fm credit sitting around, use it here. This one’s worth the listen.
Where to Get It
Available in multiple formats, depending on how you like to read (or listen).
- 🎧 Audiobook (Indie Option): Listen on Libro.fm
- 🎧 Audiobook (Amazon Option): Listen on Audible
- 📚 Support Local Bookstores: Buy from Bookshop.org
- 📦 Amazon (Paperback/Kindle): View on Amazon
When’s the last time you wrote an actual letter to someone?
