Reading is a NOVEL idea - Book Recommendation for August

A personal letter in the mail is full of possibility and anticipation – and so is a newly recommended book. The Correspondent brings together the past and present of a devoted letter-writer navigating daily life and reflecting on hopes, relationships, regrets, and memories.

The charming novel takes the form of letters and emails exchanged by a divorced and retired woman with her friends, family, foes, and literary idols. It begins in 2012 as Sybil Van Antwerp, 73, politely declines an invitation to visit her brother, Felix, in France, then fancifully invites the author Ann Patchett to use her Maryland home as a writer’s retreat. 

Sybil, who was adopted, grows curious about her ancestry after her older son gives her a DNA test for Christmas, and she brushes off concerns about her declining eyesight from her daughter, Fiona, who lives in Australia. From letters to literary icons, to a letter to a shadowy figure from her past that’s never sent, the missives are always intriguing.

With well-developed characters and themes of memory and alternate possibilities in life, this appealing family drama brims with well-told tension and detailed reflection on a rich and compelling life story.

Readers may also like Must I Go by Yiyun Li or After Annie by Anna Quindlen. You can request these books at the library in print, digital, or audio formats, or visit our website to find them through the library catalogue: http://library.brucecounty.on.ca/