Reading Adventure: "The Correspondent" by Virginia Evans 📬

Exploring the Letters We Write, the Ones We Don’t & the Ones We Keep . . .

Sybil Van Antwerp is seventy-three, sharp as a tack, and armed with a pen that could charm the socks off a statue. Or make it bleed. Every morning, she sits down to write letters. To her brother, to her best friend, to the university president who won’t let her into the class she’s dying to take (rude), and to her favorite authors, because why not tell them exactly what she thinks of their latest masterpieces? And then there’s that letter, the one she writes over and over but never sends.

For decades, Sybil has used her wit and wisdom to make sense of the world from the safety of her writing desk. And while her letters may be insightful, her real life has been a masterclass in keeping everyone at arm’s length. That is, until a stack of letters from her past lands in her lap, forcing her to confront a heartbreak she’s spent thirty years trying to outrun.

Now, Sybil has a choice: keep hiding behind her perfectly crafted words, or finally send the one letter that could change everything. But to do that, she’ll have to dig up the courage to forgive. Not just others, but herself.

Because some stories can’t be rewritten until you face the blank page of your own heart.

288 pgs

• Carnegie Medal, Longlisted (2025)
• The Center for Fiction - First Novel Prize, Longlisted (2025)
• She Reads Best Best - Book of the Year, Nominee (2025)