The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

This is an unusual novel told in letters, primarily from the perspective of Sybil Van Antwerp, a divorced grandmother in her 70s, who had a distinguished career as a lawyer. Sybil started writing letters as a child and takes pride in her correspondence but there is a dramatic contrast in her ability to communicate through writing vs her inability to maintain relationships with her immediate family. 

Her acerbic personality and conviction that she is always right come through clearly in her writing. She does not suffer fools gladly but isn’t always straightforward herself – for example, she hasn’t told her family she is losing her sight. Even when she totals her car, she pretends it was a minor incident. And the biggest crisis of her life was something she could not discuss with anyone.

In addition to Sybil, a complicated individual, the book is full of well-depicted minor characters. Two of her most regular correspondents are her brother, Felix, who lives in France with his partner, and her oldest friend, Rosalie who is also her sister-in-law. She is not close to her son and her daughter is actively hostile. She barely mentions her grandchildren. One of the most interesting characters is a troubled teen, Harry Landry, whose father clerked with Sybil early in his career. Harry is brilliant but quirky and is bullied by his peers. Sybil’s letters try to help him cope and she shares more about herself to him than anyone else. He takes her for granted but her letters provide bracing affection during a troubled time in his life – and he nearly always writes back, unlike most teenage boys.

Sybil also writes to her favorite authors, including Joan Didion and Ann Patchett, and they respond! But maybe the funniest interaction is her letter to Diana Gabaldon, after she and her two close friends discuss Outlander:

. . . I was wanting to read something regarding Scotland, particularly set up in the Highlands, and Millie asked if I’d read your first book, Outlander. I had not, and Trudy chimed in, rather blushing and echoing back, yes, had I read it? They both had, though they didn’t know they both had and, in fact, they had both read all eight of the novels in your series, and I asked why neither of them had ever mentioned the series to me. Trudy was turning about as red as fresh sunburn, but Millie (you’d love her, absolutely no shame at all, she is from Long Island) looked me dead in the eyes and said, THERE’S LOTS OF SEX.

I suspect Diana Gabaldon was delighted when she read this.

There is a subplot involving several threatening letters. Instead of notifying the police, Sybil waits it out, perhaps waiting for a clue that enables her to identify the perpetrator, prompting a recollection to a painful incident in the past. Impressively, Sybil admits her fault and tries to make amends. This is one of several situations in which Sybil gets out of her comfort zone – communication in letters – and makes herself open to new experiences and shows how much she can care about other people.

My book group read this for November.  One member was irritated that Sybil had accepted a long term career as a judicial clerk, explaining it away as an era where women could not be judges. She felt the author had underestimated the number of women judges at that time. Yet, it was clear that her law partner, Gary Donnelly, was the person closest to her intellectually. When he became a judge, she did not want to replace him so she became his law clerk so they could go on working together. It’s true that one cannot imagine a man doing the same. It is also the kind of career move made by working mothers but that was not Sybil’s objective; in fact, she used work as a shield to avoid her family.

Apparently, there was a big WSJ article about this book recently and that is why I had such a hard time getting a copy from the library. It was one of those rare books that everyone in the book group enjoyed and there was a lot to discuss. You'll like it but you might need some Kleenex.

Title: The Correspondent
Author: Virginia Evans
Publication: Crown Publishing Group, hardcover, 2025
Genre: Fiction
Source: Library