Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Maren Wiederhold

THE CORRESPONDENT

Virginia Evans

Pitched as A Man Called Ove meets 84 Charing Cross Road, this epistolary novel is about a woman in the winter of her life trying to make reparations and sense of the world in the only way she knows how, through correspondence. It is bittersweet, (refreshingly) old-fashioned, full of charm, and will make for great holiday reading!

In her letters to family, friends, neighbors, former work colleagues (and even a few notable authors - you will find she is a lover of literature!), we come to know the life of retired lawyer Sybil Van Antwerp, who is 70 years old when the story opens. She is stubborn, cantankerous, overly opinionated, and yet somehow, immensely appealing. You are moved by her thoughts, reflections, and views on her own life as well as the lives of those around her, and through her correspondence, we meet an amazing cast of characters who come in and out of her world over the course of several years.

Some of Sybil's exchanges are ordinary and simple, and some much more profound and deeper. She covers everything from marriage and motherhood to family and friendship, to loss and grief, and the process of aging. It is a heartfelt tale, and Sybil is a character that will stay with you long after you put her letters down.

Virginia Evans holds a Masters in Creative Writing from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. She has published a few essays and short stories, including an essay in the Irish Times about her time living in Ireland with her family. She resides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with her husband, her children, and her dog, Brigid.

Available products
Book Published 2025-05-06 by Crown

Comments

I was wowed by this deliciously brilliant book! Thank you, Virginia Evans, for a life beautifully told in letters, for creating a character whose mind struggles with her heart in a most intriguing, sympathetic, witty, and binge-worthy way. I loved bearing witness to her struggles and her scolds, to the righting of her emotional wrongs. Author friends - please forgive me for proclaiming The Correspondent my new favorite book.

Italy: Rizzoli ; Ukraine: Book Club Family Leisure Club ; BCOM: Michael Joseph ; Bazil: Editora Arqueiro ; French: Editions Table Ronde ; German: Goldmann

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.

The superbly talented Virginia Evans has written a novel of connection and daring, The Correspondent herself, Sybil Van Antwerp, is a single lady of a certain age, who finds the meaning of her life and those she loves (and doesn't) through letter writing. The circus of beautifully drawn characters, who receive and respond to Sybil's letters, is vibrant and rich. Sybil has survived trauma, grief, and lost love. She keeps her secrets close and edits her pain. The letters are so deliciously crafted, Sybil's life itself becomes a work of art.

What a lovely novel . . . I fell in love with the eloquent, stubborn Sybil, such a wonderful character.

I finished this wonderful, wonderful book in tears, and had to take a moment - several moments - to pull myself together. . . Equal parts sorrow and quiet joy, the stuff of life, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you reflect, as all the best novels do. Read it, read it, read it! Then buy it for your family, your friends, your people.