I have read so many books in my life but I don’t remember the last time I enjoyed something as much as I enjoyed ‘The Correspondent’ by Virginia Evans. I was overjoyed when I found out it was longlisted for the Women’s Prize in Fiction as I was reading it. I’m hoping it will make it to the shortlist which will be announced later this month. I’m rooting for it to win the prize though I hear other books on the list are quite good as well, such as Lily King’s ‘Heart the Lover’ and Susan Choi’s ‘Flashlight’, which was shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2025.

I know I should probably read the others before making such a strong case for The Correspondent but I really don’t care. The Correspondent is brilliant. It’s a joyous celebration of life and it made me so happy. I have been recommending it to everyone I know and feeling jealous of them because they are in for a treat. Sybil, the protagonist, has my heart. She always will. But trust me, if ever there’s been a glorious work of hope, love, and wisdom, it’s this book by Evans. The writing is stunning, and the plot even better. 

I have always said that I don’t have a favorite genre but I recently realized that’s not true. I do and it’s epistolary. I love letters. I’m a nosy parker that way. One of my favorite books is the letter exchange between Paul Austre and J.M. Coetzee. I’m also randomly picking up Franz Kafka’s ‘Letters to Milena’. There’s something so comforting and honest about letter exchanges that you can’t help but be captivated. 

The Correspondent is basically the story of 73-year-old Sybil told through the letters she writes–to her brother, her best friend, her son, and to authors she loves to tell them what she thinks of their works. Sybil is someone who finds it easier to express herself through the written word. There are many things that she can’t bring herself to say out loud that she can put into writing. She’s witty even when she’s being serious. She’s sometimes downright brazen and offends people easily. But Sybil is human, with flaws that she readily owns up to, and that makes her very endearing. 

I loved getting to know her, through the letters and emails she writes to just about everyone, including her neighbor. I might not have necessarily agreed with her on certain things but I found excuses for her behavior and she never, ever put me off. I want to grow up and be Sybil, make the mistakes she has made and learn the lessons she has learnt. The Correspondent is the most charming contemplation of life and aging and it’s the book I’m recommending and giving to everyone this year. 

Fiction

The Correspondent

Virginia Evans

Published: 2025

Publisher: Penguin Random House UK

Pages: 270, Pages