Review: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Publisher: Crown

Pages: 281

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Every morning, Sybil Van Antwerp sits down to write letters – to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to attend a class she desperately wants to take, to her favourite authors to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Because at seventy-three, Sybil has used her correspondence – witty and wise – to make sense of the world. But beyond the page, she has spent the last thirty years keeping the people who love her at arms’ length... Until letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life.

Now, Sybil must send the letter she has been writing for all these years - and find forgiveness within herself in order to move on.

Kritters Thoughts:  Told through the exchange of letters, Sybil Van Antwerp is an older protagonist and she has lived a life.  Through letters she both sends and receives, we the reader, find out about her past, present, and future.  

I loved that the stories that Sybil sent were to all sorts of people - her family, friends, and even some famous authors.  I am glad that the book included both letters that Sybil wrote but also that she received, so the reader gets to not only hear Sybil's thoughts but could also get to know the others in her life through their own words.  I read this book in the middle of the hype and I for sure went into it with some expectations that it would be a good read, but I am glad to say it lived up to the praise it received.    

This book inspired me to want to start writing letters.  I would love to exchange letters with a variety of people and to have a record of my thoughts and feelings for future generations to hopefully be able to get to know me.  

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Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Edelweiss.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.