Maybe it’s time to go retro and start letter writing again. It’d give me an excuse to get in on the stationary fad that’s currently en vogue.
Plus, I just love paper. And pens. All the accoutrements that come with the fine art of writing.
Letter writing is the structure of Virginia Evans’ “The Correspondent,” a 2025 critical darling and the book I had hoped to close out the year with, had I had a few more days. (Full disclosure: The “Stranger Things” final season took precedence over everything. I do not feel guilty about this.)
Evans’ protagonist, Sybil Van Antwerp, is a retired law clerk and fan of the pen to paper method of communicating back and forth with friends, family, customer service reps and authors. I wasn’t surprised when I saw commentary somewhere that Sybil feels akin to Olive Kitteredge — I thought the same thing. They’d either adore each other or despise each other, I’m sure.
Sybil knows her days of both writing letters and reading responses are growing fairly numbered, as her sight is fading fast, the result of a medical condition she has shared with precious few. Time is getting on, and so is she. And as much as she shares about her daily life in her regular communciation with her best friend, her brother and former colleagues, there is so much more she holds back, especially from her immediate family.
A Christmas gift from her son opens up yet another rabbit hole — and it’s entirely up to her if she wants to go down it. Will DNA testing reveal answers that have always been just out of reach or just be another in a string of heartbreaks endured in her lifetime?
I loved “The Correspondent” for all the gossipy fun these letters were — would Sybil hook up with her neighbor or marry Mick? Would the garden club witches get their way? And can Sybil just audit a damn English class already? But even more so, I really enjoyed Sybil’s humanity — the deep, deep understanding of what it is to be a mother and feel like you are always failing even when all evidence suggests otherwise, to be a wife struggling to juggle family and work, and to be a person just plain scared of what she knows and doesn’t know, all at once.
A great, great read, and I heartily recommend this if you haven’t already beaten me to the punch and read it. This goes perfect with a cold winter weekend, for sure.
LitzyDitz 