The Correspondent

<b>WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2026</b><br /><b>A <i>SUNDAY TIMES </i>BESTSELLER</b><br /><b>THE #1 </b><i><b>NEW YORK TIMES </b></i><b>BESTSELLER</b><br /><b>OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE<br />A </b><i><b>TIMES</b> </i><b>BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025</b><br /><b>AN <i>IRISH TIMES</i> BESTSELLER</b><br /><b>A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK<br /></b><br />'A warm, funny gem of a novel'<br /><b>LAURA HACKETT, <i>THE TIMES</i></b><br /><br />'Masterful . . . I was delighted and moved'<br /><b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i></b><br /><br />'I can't praise it enough. It's an absolute triumph'<br /><b>CLARE CHAMBERS</b><br /><br />'What a novel! Tender, dry, sharp...devastating, but still feel good.'<br /><b>PANDORA SYKES <br /></b><br />'Tremendous'<br /><b>FREDRIK BACKMAN</b><br /><br />'Shows us what a glorious thing growing older can be'<br /><b>FLORENCE KNAPP</b><br /><br />'The year's breakout novel no one saw coming'<br /><i><b>WALL STREET JOURNAL</b></i><br /><br />–<br />Sybil Van Antwerp is seventy-three, slowly losing her sight and always writing letters . . .<br /><br />To her children. Her favourite authors. Her ex-sister-in-law. The journalist poking into her past.<br />Her doctor. Suitors. Kindly neighbours. The infuriating gardening club.<br /><br />All receive Sybil’s witty, wise correspondence, rich with everyday concerns.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The hardest letter to write is the one you’d never dare to send.