The Correspondent

Really enjoyed, a different type of story, learning it all thru her letters; varied and interesting.
Was our book club choice, we all loved it.

Nearly finished it, fascinating book, I make a cuppa then say to myself ... just one more letter. Loving this book.

I absolutely adored this book. I don’t read a lot of fiction, but couldn’t put this down and finished it in less than 24 hours. The book is a collection of letters, written to and from Sybil - a wonderful character, who is well, a character! The books makes you laugh, it makes you think - and probably makes you cry (not me!). The letter format is excellent and inspires me to get back into letter (email!) writing myself - something I love to do, but have done less of since starting a business. AAA recommend

I picked this up thinking, “Oh cute! A lovely Grandmother writing letters to her friends.” I was not prepared.

The Correspondent is so much more than that. Despite the emotional wreckage it left me in (tissues at the ready for those just in case moments), the writing is simply exquisite- intelligent, precise and profoundly moving.

What makes this book genius is its format. No dialogue, no narration- just correspondence. Letters and emails alone. And yet through constraint the author manages to convey six complex, layered emotions from her characters with breath taking clarity. You are peaking into someone’s entire life, through their joys, their struggles, their regrets as a working mother, purely through the written word.

It is a quiet devastation and I mean that in the most highest compliment.

You know how sometimes a book is so hyped that there's no way it can live up to the expectations? Well for The Correspondent that was 100% not the case.

This novel is about Sybil, a slightly blunt and at times unlikeable woman in her 70s, who maintains a lot of her relationships via letter writing and the odd email. Through this picture of her revealed by her writing, we see the way she is still coming to terms with her life and the moments she regrets and the relationships she wishes she could fix. The way she reveals more over time, not just to us but to herself, all through these incredible letters, is just pure magic.

By the end of the book I loved Sybil, I loved all of the people in her life all doing their best and mucking up just like her. I wept for the last portion of the book and I am not someone who cries when reading.

Please pick it up and give this book a go.