For once, I’ll start with the bottom line – I REALLY ENJOYED READING THIS BOOK!

I couldn’t put it down…

I have a soft soft for books written as an exchange of letters. I love the way I gradually gather information about the characters and the plot begins to form and make itself clear. Each letter promises a fresh detail or meaning to uncover. This book has a main character, Sybil, who corresponds with many others. The different letters from varied people let you think about the events in question from different perspectives without being confusing.

I can relate to the fact that in the act of writing one has to consider and clarify thoughts and feelings. Sybil is in her mid seventies and we learn about her life both present and past.

“The Correspondent” caught my interest on page one. It is simply so well written that in my mind I have placed it on a virtual shelf beside my favorite books written in the format of letters, namely “84 Charing Cross Road” by Helene Hanff,  “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker and “Address Unknown” by Katherine Taylor.

Note: I just went back and read my post from 2020 about the book “Meet Me at the Museum” by Youngson. Not only should I have placed it besides the above mentioned books on my virtual bookshelf, the post reminded me that  I should be saying an  “epistolary novel” instead of “books witten in the format of letters”. But I never liked the sound of the word “epistolary”…

The book comes with a  surprising “fringe benefit” – it’s full of book reccommendations! Not only do some of the characters reccommend books to each other,  but the protagonist Sybil writes to the authors who wrote books that moved her.  I’ve read a few of the books mentioned and made notes for myself to look for some of the others. The library had one of the books mentioned available immediatly, so I’m already entering a totally different world. More on that to come!

A warm reccommendation for “The Correspondent”!