The Correspondent
As seen:
By Virginia Evans
avg rating
2 reviews
Discover the emotional, funny, unforgettable BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick, Amazon Best Book of 2025 and New York Times bestselling word-of-mouth sensation that thousands of readers are calling their favourite book of the year…
Over 30,000 five star reviews on Goodreads!
‘THIS NOVEL IS A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION’ Ann Patchett
‘I WAS DELIGHTED AND MOVED . . . MASTERFUL’ New York Times
‘I CAN’T PRAISE IT ENOUGH. AN ABSOLUTE TRIUMPH’ Clare Chambers
‘THIS NOVEL IS A COMPLETE AND UTTER JOY’ Ann Napolitano
‘I DON’T HAVE ANY WORDS. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL STORY’ Reader review
‘I THINK I’VE JUST FINISHED MY FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR’ Reader review
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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.
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 she had put out of her mind land on her doorstep, forcing her to reckon with her past mistakes.
For as Sybil is about to learn: it’s never too late to write a few post-scripts.
Funny, wry and bittersweet, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of connection and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime, told by one of the most memorable characters you will ever meet.
Perfect for fans of Three Days in June, Olive Kitteridge and Tom Lake.
Readers love THE CORRESPONDENT
‘This is the book of the year!’ 5 ⭐ reader review
‘This book touched my soul’ 5 ⭐ reader review
‘Should be required reading’ 5 ⭐ reader review
‘Oh my heart. What a gem’ 5 ⭐ reader review
‘I found myself asking myself, “Is this the best book I’ve ever read?”’ 5 ⭐ reader review
‘Left a profound impact on me . . . explores the reflections that come with the choices we make and it does so with such grace and depth that it’s impossible not to be moved’ 5 ⭐ reader review
TweetReviews
This delightful novel is made up of letters, emails and notes from and to the titular correspondent: Sybil van Antwerp, a passionate believer in the art of letter writing, now 73, retired and living in Maryland, USA.
Sybil writes to her best friend, her son and daughter, her neighbour, her brother, her favourite authors, and in the process we find out more and more about her story - including some secrets she has never revealed to anyone. She is painfully honest about her actions and feelings, and the reader sympathises with her in spite of - or perhaps because of - the mistakes she has made.
Witty, moving and wise, the Correspondent is a novel about family, forgiveness and second chances. It keeps you guessing right up until the very end. Recommended.
This book was a fantastic read. Sybil was a very interesting character who liked to read lots of different books and she was very good at expressing herself through letters and e-mails. She had written to lots of different people like her ex-husband, son, daughter, her best friend Rosalie. She also was involved in many activities like gardening club, reading, reviewing literature courses and she had a few interesting relationships with her neighbour. She was adopted and she had found out through an organisation she had written to. I did like the letters she had written to Bassem who worked at the DNA agency.
Very much enjoyed her letters to him. She was very good at writing to people and even had written a few apologetic letters to a former defendant who was sent down during her time working for a law firm. I did thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I liked the style it was written. It was good to read letters and e-mails that were written it told a very unique story of Sybil's life. The art of writing letters is dying due to the rise in technology so reading this book was a wonderful change of pace.
It has inspired me to write letters again and would recommend this book to those who wish to learn to write good letters and e-mails to people
