The Correspondent

WINNER OF THE WOMENS PRIZE FOR FICTION 2026
#1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE
A TIMESBOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
AN IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER
A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK

A warm, funny gem of a novel

LAURA HACKETT, THE TIMES

Masterful . . . I was delighted and moved

NEW YORK TIMES

I cant praise it enough. Its an absolute triumph

CLARE CHAMBERS

What a novel! Tender, dry, sharp...devastating, but still feel good.
PANDORA SYKES

Tremendous

FREDRIK BACKMAN

Shows us what a glorious thing growing older can be

FLORENCE KNAPP

The years breakout novel no one saw coming

WALL STREET JOURNAL

–

Sybil Van Antwerp is seventy-three, slowly losing her sight and always writing letters . . .

To her children. Her favourite authors. Her ex-sister-in-law. The journalist poking into her past.
Her doctor. Suitors. Kindly neighbours. The infuriating gardening club.

All receive Sybil’s witty, wise correspondence, rich with everyday concerns.

But there is one letter that she has never sent. It concerns the darkest period of her life. To post it, Sybil must find forgiveness within herself.

The hardest letter to write is the one you’d never dare to send.