“Miraculous and Mundane,” “The Correspondent” ExploresRebirth in a Winter Season https://ift.tt/gvsPn1t
Virginia Evans’ The Correspondent tells the story of the life of Sybil Van Antwerp. Written through the letters Sybil writes and receives, we learn about her beginnings, who she was and who she’d hoped to be as well as her endings and who she could not be.
Sybil, a mother and grandmother, divorced, retired from law and who now lives alone, is equal parts peevish, good-natured, cautious and bold. She frequently gets in her own way, especially in her most treasured relationships. As her story unfolds, she discovers the forgiveness she needs, both for herself and for others, as she embarks on a profound and unexpected transformation at the age of 73. Sybil discovers more about who she is, experiencing a kind of “rebirth,” though she is, according to her, in the “winter season” of her life’s journey.
Virginia Evans is from the East Coast of the United States. She attended James Madison University for her bachelor’s in English literature and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, for her master’s of philosophy in creative writing. Now she lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband, two children, and her red labrador, Brigid.
I was deeply moved by this story (cue the tissues) and had the incredible opportunity to sit with Virginia and talk about her remarkable story and debut novel, The Correspondent.
I’d love to know how your writing journey began! Your “writer” origin story, so to speak. Can you talk about the journey toThe Correspondent?
Yes, I wrote my first novel when I was 19 years old and have always been teaching myself to write. I had one book that came close to publication in the 2010s. I had signed on with an agent, and it seemed promising, but after 18 months of revisions, it was clear that my vision for the book and hers were not the same, so we parted ways. Fast forward a few years, I moved to Ireland, attended Trinity College in Dublin, and worked on another novel during that time as part of my degree. That novel led me to my current agent, Hilary McMahon, at Westwood Creative Artists. We both loved that book, but it never sold. It was pretty heartbreaking. During the year we were in limbo about whether the book would sell, I wrote The Correspondent. And it has been quite a journey! I’m breezing over 20 years of querying book after book, year after year, rejection upon rejection. So, some people approach me in conversation about this book as if it’s my first book, but this is my ninth novel!
What did your writing process look like for this novel? Did you have any routine or habits while writing The Correspondent — for instance, writing at a particular time of day — that helped you immerse yourself in Sybil’s world of letters?
This is a true story…I wrote The Correspondent in the master closet of our townhouse! We were living in this small and sweet, open-concept townhouse, which I loved. But there were no doors and nowhere to go, and my two kids were very little at the time. One day, I went into the master closet, which was also small. I took my husband’s clothes out and moved them to our daughter’s closet, cleared a wall, and slid a small desk into that space. I made myself a little office where I could write. I mean, it was terrible and dark with no windows, boxes piled up, and shoes and clothes all around, and you didn’t even know when the sun would come up…it was really bleak, HA! But I could close the door and write from 4:30 to 7:30 am, which was always my writing window, especially since I had small kids and was working full-time. I wrote the entire book in that closet!
I love that! And now that ARCs of The Correspondent are in readers’ hands, how do you feel about the early responses and buzz the book is receiving?
With the cusp of this really big moment for me, I can say the joy is in writing. The heart of writing is writing, not publishing. And that’s both true and not, because there is this sort of finish line moment where you actually get the book out the door, and it’s great and fun, and I’m so proud. It’s amazing and it’s encouraging to hear after such a long journey. But then, would I rather be alone at my desk writing another story? Yes!
The Correspondentexplores some profound themes: finding solace in literature, forging connections across distance and time through correspondence, confronting past and present trauma, the effects of lingering grief and, ultimately, seeking and receiving forgiveness. What inspired you to center the story on an older woman at such a pivotal crossroads in her life?
I’ve always been drawn to the stories of people’s lives. With Sybil, you’re getting her whole account of all she knows about living, how to be a child, how to be a parent, how to be a friend, how to navigate the world, and what she’s learned about human beings. You get to see her from start to finish, to find out what she knows about her life, what she discovers and what she remembers.
Evans’ writing and the beautiful way she tells the story of a life will leave you awestruck. In Sybil’s words, “I am an old woman, and my life has been some strange balance of miraculous and mundane,” and throughout this story, you find exactly that: all the evidence of a life both miraculous and mundane.
FICTION The Correspondent
By Virginia Evans
Crown
Published April 29, 2025
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