Sybil Van Antwerp lives alone in Annapolis, Maryland. She is retired, growing old, losing her vision, and her relationship with her daughter in England is strained. Her ex-husband is dying. Years ago, tragedy struck the family when their 6-year-old son died during a family vacation. For Sybil, this led to depression, divorce, and an inability to travel or form many meaningful personal relationships. Now, this septuagenarian spends much of her time writing letters.

These letters form the bulk of Virginia Evans's 2025 novel, "The Correspondent." The book is an epistolary novel, which is to say the author tells the entire story through letters, rather than via traditional narration.

Evans's story takes us through the final years of Sybil's life, revealing her life through letters she wrote and received. The writings reveal the protagonist's personality and past. We see that she is sensitive but judgmental. We slowly learn of the tragedies that shaped her life. And we see her grow as a person.

The letters jump between the various aspects of Sybil's life during the decade the novel spans. Her mother gave Sybil up for adoption, and she seeks out her birth family. Her husband is dying, but she can no longer connect with him or visit him. She receives threatening letters from a stalker. Two men court her, and she cannot decide between them.

"The Correspondent" is a clever telling of an interesting life.