The Correspondent (2025) by Virginia Evans
Reading stats
Dates read: 23 Mar to 27 Mar 2026
Discovered through: NPR's All Things Considered
Book format: E-book (Kindle)
Genre: Epistolary fiction, literary fiction
Synopsis
While the rest of the world is alight with buzzing and pinging, septuagenarian Sybil Van Antwerp prefers to communicate via letters. Sybil's correspondence dispels any notions of handwritten letters being quiet, quaint, or unassuming; the life that unfolds under her pen is anything but.
Thoughts
I was on my way to work when I first heard about Evans' debut novel; I'd just gotten off the freeway, and listened to a brief segment on NPR about how the book had inspired many readers to take up letter-writing themselves. I placed a hold for the title on Libby as soon as I parked my car, and was not at all surprised to see the waitlist — it would take me 16 weeks to borrow a copy.
I will be upfront and say that while I understand the hype around the novel and appreciate its role in renewing interest in handwritten letters, I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed reading Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures — which is to say, not very much. I found both books to be overly saccharine and predictable.
I was also not sympathetic to the character of Sybil, who struck me as narrow-minded, egotistical, self-centered, manipulative, and cowardly. I thought she treated her loved ones poorly. Running over her neighbor's cat is horrific enough, but when he requested a towel to wrap his poor kitty in, Sybil's first concern was that she didn't want to dirty her good ones. (Add sociopathic to the list.)
I was also annoyed with Sybil's interactions with (and Evans' depiction of) two characters in particular: Melissa Genet and Basam Mansour.
Sybil doesn't make the best first impression on either Melissa and Basam, and in both cases, the reader will get a proper dose of secondhand cringe as she bumbles into social faux pas: she unknowingly disparages poetry to a poet, and obtusely compliments the English skills of a customer service representative, which she found impressive for an Indian.
We learn later that Melissa is a Black woman who, as Dean of English at UMD, is subject to constant belittlement and patronization from old white men in academia. Also, Basam is actually Syrian, but no matter — Sybil manages to not only befriend these two characters, but bestows upon them her wisdom and connections. Melissa appears to value Sybil's advice as the older woman shares her own experience of being belittled and patronized by old white men in law; Sybil manages to land Basam an engineering job better suited to his education and training.
I think there's a term for this kind of thing?
Rating
A (1) + B (1) + D (1) = 3 stars
Read about my rating system here.