I have finally read my favorite book of 2025. I was starting to be concerned that no book would touch me deeply this year, but fear not, it has arrived. An epistolary novel— one of my favorite words, “a literary work in the form of letters”, this novel takes place over the course of the last nine years of the life of Sybil Stone Van Antwerp, a woman who values precision in written expression, the careful following of rules, and living a life of order. She appreciates and thinks deeply about novels, both modern and classic, and occasionally writes authors like Ann Patchett, Kasuo Ishiguro, and Larry McMurtry, for example, to express her thoughts about their work. In fact, one such letter leads to a postal friendship with author Joan Didion.

Most of Sybil’s correspondence is with her children, Bruce and Fiona, her best friend Rosalie, her brother Felix, and others with whom she seeks to resolve issues. She dislikes the phone or text, can just about tolerate e-mail when it proves necessary, all because she finds she can revise and thoughtfully express her wishes and communications with greater precision in writing. She has had a fulfilling career as a lawyer, a wonderful marriage to Daan, but due to the loss of their eight-year-old son, Gilbert, and other conflicts, Daan leaves her, returning to his home in Belgium, bringing Fiona with him. Thus, the correspondence we are privy to in her last nine years of life are her efforts to tie up loose ends, resolve deep griefs, and say and hear from others what needs to be said before her time is at an end.

Two other favorite female protagonists came to mind as I got to know Sybil: first, Elizabeth Zott from Lessons in Chemistry, and second, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. While they certainly have their differences, all three are women who have experienced significant and profound loss in life, are very intelligent, and have strong spines for forging ahead with determination despite what life dishes out, what obstacles they confront, and what mistakes they make. They may have tough exteriors, even spiny at times, but have soft, gooey interior lives, that only some can appreciate, and love. My natural affinity for these women says something about me, I’m afraid.

One of the great pleasures of reading is when we experience these affinities, connections, and bonds. Be sure to read The Correspondent, and tell me what you think of Sybil.