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The Correspondent
The Correspondent: A Novel | Virginia Evans
4 posts | 2 read | 8 to read
Subtly told and finely made, The Correspondent is a portrait of a small life expanding. Virginia Evans shows how one woman changes at a point when change had seemed impossible. That change, like this novel, turns out to be a cause for celebration.Ann Patchett LIBRARYREADS APRIL PICK NAMED A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING (UK) MOST ANTICIPATED DEBUT Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle, or, a better metaphor, if dated, the links of a long chain, and even if those links are never put back together, which they will certainly never be, even if they remain for the rest of time dispersed across the earth like the fragile blown seeds of a dying dandelion, isnt there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of ones life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone? Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write lettersto her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter. Sybil expects her world to go on as it always hasa mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness. Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime. Sybil Van Antwerps life of letters might be a very small thing, but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.
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LiteraryHoarderPenny
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Pickpick

Wonderful!! Needed tissues at the end and that makes it a winner for me!

BarbaraBB I can‘t wait to read this one! 6h
10 likes1 comment
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LeslieO
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#ReadingRecap #MayRecap

Bingo! ✅
#BookSpin
#DoubleSpin
#Nonfiction2025
#SeriesLove2025
5⭐️✅✅ (the tagged book and Ordinary Time)

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Fantastic month!! 6d
27 likes1 stack add1 comment
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LiteraryHoarderPenny
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Loving this so far. All epistolary 🥰

Aims42 Awww, yay! I‘m on a very long waitlist at my library for this book 😩 I‘m kinda thinking I‘ll break down and just buy it, it sounds really good! 6d
LiteraryHoarderPenny @Aims42 I understand 100%! I had to wait a long time for my library to bring it in! I hesitated buying because it‘s a hardcover and just about 280 pages. So I didn‘t want to make that kind of investment. But. I do this all the time - just get fed up waiting and buy it! 🙂 6d
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BarbaraBB I‘ve heard such good things about this book 6d
LiteraryHoarderPenny @BarbaraBB it‘s very good so far! 🥰 5d
15 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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ErikasMindfulShelf
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Pickpick

This was wonderful.
A novel in letters.

36 likes4 stack adds