The Correspondent
Sybil Van Antwerp is a retired lawyer in her seventies, living alone in Annapolis, who has spent her life writing letters. The novel is built entirely from her correspondence between 2012 and 2022, addressed to family, old colleagues, and even authors she admires, from Joan Didion to Ann Patchett. Through these letters a full life takes shape: a divorce, two living children and one who died young, an adoption she never resolved, and a friendship she is afraid to repair. As her eyesight fails, a series of unsent letters circles a secret she has carried for years. Virginia Evans's debut is a quiet, moving epistolary novel about regret, connection, and the courage to reach out.
What you might want to know about The Correspondent
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A retired lawyer living alone in Maryland reveals her life through the letters and emails she writes, even as she begins to lose her sight.
Yes. Ann Patchett praised it on PBS NewsHour, calling it a really beautiful debut.
An epistolary novel is told through documents like letters and emails. The Correspondent is built entirely from the letters and emails its main character writes.
The Correspondent was written by Virginia Evans, published in 2025 by Crown.
The Correspondent is 352 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Correspondent takes most readers 5 to 8 hours to finish.
The Correspondent is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
