"The Correspondent" - 2025
from The Correspondent (Goodreads) to Letters Back to Ancient China
#6Degrees is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I love the idea. Thank you, Kate. See more about this challenge, its history, further books and how I found this here.
This book is on my wishlist but it's not out in paperback, yet, so I won't get to it until later.
Description:
"Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.
Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be 'a very small thing,' but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read."
Brooks, Geraldine "Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over" - 1997This month, my books are all about letters and correspondence, one of my favourite subjects since I have always been an avid letter writer.
I've read The Correspondent (and you will enjoy it in due time) and I have also read 84 Charing Cross Road. In fact, many years ago when my book group celebrated its 5th anniversary, I invited the author to join us for a celebratory dinner in New York! She came (and asked to bring all the leftovers home, which startled the hostess) and it was fun to talk to her about the book.
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