A Ten-Star Book in a Five-Star World: Intelligent, Captivating, and Ingeniously Plotted
This is a ten-star book in a five-star world.
Epistolary novels are an interesting genre and the results can be hit or miss. This one is a big, fat hit in all connotations of the word. It is intelligent, captivating, and ingeniously plotted, especially since it's all done through letters written and received.
Written by Virginia Evans, this is the story of Sybil Van Antwerp, who at the start of the book is 73 years old. She lives alone in Arnold, Maryland, five miles north of Annapolis, in an old house that backs up to the scenic Severn River. Sybil is a letter-writer extraordinaire and always has been. She writes letters—the kind that are written on paper and sent in an envelope with a stamp—but will happily dash off an email when warranted. She writes letters to everyone, even her next-door neighbor. She writes to friends, family, and the occasional book author, including Ann Patchett, Joan Didion, Kazuo Ishiguro, Diana Gabaldon, and Larry McMurtry. She also writes to newspaper editors, lawmakers, teachers, and diplomats. She even writes regularly to a child who is the troubled son of a dear friend. And she writes to someone else—a lot—but never sends those letters.
Ominously, an anonymous person is writing threatening letters to her, blaming her for something she did many years ago in her career as a clerk to a judge. It is obvious this person not only knows where she lives, but also has visited and staked out the house and yard. In addition, she is struggling with her relationship with her daughter, Fiona, something that is close to estrangement and heartbreaking for them both.
Sybil is aging, and many of the emotional crises in her life are coming to a head now, including the death of her ex-husband, her ongoing grief of losing her son Gilbert when he was eight years old, her horrifying and frightening diagnosis that she is losing her eyesight, and startling discoveries from a DNA test kit. Sybil, who is a bit of a curmudgeon, is also learning how to be a kinder, more compassionate soul as she ages.
After the first few letters, I found it almost impossible to stop reading. It was that compelling!
And the ending? Oh, what a gut-punch it is.
A fun fact: Sybil's email address is a throwback: @aol.com. Since I spent most of my career as a writer/editor for AOL, it was fun seeing that email address again.
(03/05/26)
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