Books About Letters: "The Correspondent"

In this edition of Books About Letters we're chatting all about a gorgeous epistolary novel. When I found the striking cover of "The Correspondent" by Virginia Evans facing out from a bookshelf in Hodges Figgis -- a bookshop here in Dublin, Ireland -- I knew it was a must-read.

Sybil Van Antwerp has always felt she could express herself more with a pen and paper. That's why in her early 70s she's writing to family, lifelong friends, strangers, and favorite authors. And Evans has generously invited us as readers into the envelopes that fly to and from Sybil's desk.

So is this a book which qualifies for the 'Book About Letters' title? Absolutely. "The Correspondent" spans the years 2012 - 2020/2022 told in letters and emails between Sybil and her, pardon the repetition, correspondents.

Evans masters the different voices of her cast of characters. Exposition and context are beautiful woven within the letters and emails filling in gaps and yet creating mysteries in only the way a letter and the language the author chooses-- written and sent perhaps in the heat of a moment or long deliberated over -- can.

Take how beautifully Sybil responds here to a retired colleague who has written following the funeral of a mutual connection and questioned Sybil's antiquated preference for the handwritten letter in the modern age.

A novel all at once about grief, love and the challenges of aging this beautiful story belongs beside your copy of "The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Society" or "84 Charring Cross Road" -- which gets a mention in the text -- on your shelf.

Get in Touch.

Do you have a 'Book About Letters' you think would be a great addition to our shelves? Write to us at info@fleamarketloveletters.com today.