If you are looking for a complete list of all the books mentioned in The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, you have come to the right place.

One of my favorite parts of The Correspondent is all the books mentioned throughout the many letters to and from Sybil. I loved how every time Sybil and Rosalie would write to each other, they would sign off by saying what they were currently reading. I also loved Sybil’s letters to and from the various authors she wrote to.

I like to keep track of characters when I’m reading, and when I noticed there was a theme of Sybil mentioning the books she was reading, I started to keep track of those, too.

I was torn over whether to provide the list of books in the order they appear or alphabetical order. I like seeing them in the order they appear, but an alphabetical list can be easier to navigate. After thinking it over, I decided to provide both!

I also included the page numbers where the books are mentioned, if you want to go back and look at what was said about each book. You will also find links to each book.

Here are all the books mentioned in The Correspondent.

The Books Mentioned in the Order They Appear

• The Chateau by William Maxwell (3)
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (3)
• Run by Ann Patchett (3)
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (6; 17)
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (17)
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (39)
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner (41)
• Blue Nights by Joan Didion (50; 73)
• Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (55)
• Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (59)
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (61: 86)
• Ulysses by James Joyce (64)
• Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (86)
• The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (91)
• 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (95 – Fiona says it reminds her of Sybil)
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck (101)
• The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis (102)
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (103)
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (103)
• The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (114)
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (128; 278)
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (135)
• The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov (140)
• Inferno by Dan Brown (155)
• The Round House by Louise Erdrich (167)
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (174)
• Stoner by John Williams (174; Sybil said she read it 3Xs)
• The World Below by Sue Miller (185)
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (191)
• New Collected Poems by Eavan Boland; specifically references the poem “Quarantine” (226)
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (246)
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (253; 254; 256)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (204; 257)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (265)
• The White Album by Joan Didion (263)
• Amongst Women by John McGahern (234)
• That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern (234)
• The Stories of William Trevor by William Trevor (234)

Additional Authors mentioned without specific books:

• William Butler Yeats
• Samuel Beckett
• Philip Roth
• H.G. Wells

The Books Mentioned in Alphabetical Order

• 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (95 – Fiona says it reminds her of Sybil)
• Amongst Women by John McGahern (234)
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (3)
• Blue Nights by Joan Didion (50; 73)
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner (41)
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (17)
• Inferno by Dan Brown (155)
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (253; 254; 256)
• Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (55)
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (39)
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (61: 86)
• New Collected Poems by Eavan Boland; specifically references the poem “Quarantine” (226)
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (174)
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (246)
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (128; 278)
• Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (86)
• Run by Ann Patchett (3)
• Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (59)
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (6; 17)
• Stoner by John Williams (174; Sybil said she read it 3Xs)
• That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern (234) (234)
• The Chateau by William Maxwell (3)
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (103)
• The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (114)
• The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov (140)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (265)
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (103)
• The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (91)
• The Round House by Louise Erdrich (167)
• The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis (102)
• The Stories of William Trevor by William Trevor (234)
• The White Album by Joan Didion (263)
• The World Below by Sue Miller (185)
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (135)
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (191)
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck (101)
• Ulysses by James Joyce (64)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (204; 257)

The post All the Books Mentioned in The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (w/ Page Numbers) appeared first on Passion of Audiobooks.

One of the elements that makes The Correspondent so interesting is that it is full of so many fascinating characters, and it has A LOT of them.

For a book that is only about 300 pages, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans has a shocking number of characters. There are a total of 70 characters! (I don’t know if that is a record for a book of this size, but it might be.)

And that is exactly why I put together this character guide for The Correspondent. This guide will be helpful while you read this book OR to bring along to your book club to keep track of who’s who while you discuss this book.

I decided to organize the characters alphabetically into the following categories:

• Family Members
• Friends
• Strangers
• Authors/Filmmakers
• Surprise Characters (AKA Spoilers): This is where I keep characters that I think are spoilers (for those who are still reading the book)

* If you are looking for a list of the books mentioned, I decided to put all the books mentioned in The Correspondent in a separate post.

The Correspondent Characters

Family Members

• Bruce: Sybil’s son; lawyer in Alexandria
• Charles (Charlie): Fiona’s baby; Sybil’s grandson
• Colt: the person Sybil is writing the “unsent” letters to *(see below for spoiler)
• Daan: Sybil’s ex-husband
• Gilbert: Sybil’s child who died
• Felix Stone: Sybil’s brother; lives in France
• Fiona: Sybil’s daughter, who is married and living in London, works as an architect.
• Hank: Sybil’s grandson; Bruce’s son
• Heloise: Sybil’s aunt; her mother’s sister
• Lars: Rosalie’s husband; Daan’s brother
• Lina: Daan’s current wife
• Mary Stone: Sybil’s adopted mother
• Marie: Bruce’s wife
• Paul: Rosalie’s son
• Rosalie: Sybil’s best friend and sister-in-law; married to Lars (who is Daan’s brother)
• Stewart: Felix’s boyfriend
• Sybil Van Antwerp: The main character, who is a divorced, retired law clerk. She is 73 years old when the book opens.
• Violet: Sybil’s granddaughter; Bruce’s daughter
• Walt: Fiona’s husband

Friends

• Alice Livingston: friend from Sybil’s garden club
• Mrs. Curry: Sybil’s neighbor when Felix was brought home when he was adopted.
• Debbie Banks: a woman from the garden club who is mad at Sybil because Sybil doesn’t think her son should be allowed to present to the group about real estate
• Dr. Dittmyer: the surgeon Sybil sees after she sprains her ankle and breaks her wrist; son of Sybil’s friend Helen
• Guy Donnelly: Sybil’s former law partner; she later becomes his chief law clerk when he becomes a judge
• Harry Landry: The child Sybil writes a monthly letter to
• Helen Dittmyer: Sybil’s friend; the mother of Dr. Dittmyer (see above)
• James Landry: judge; Harry’s father
• Liz: Guy’s wife
• Marly Landry: Harry’s mom, James’ wife; seems to be in rehab most of the book
• Maude O’Reilly: woman from the garden club
• Mick Watts: former attorney; Sybil dates him for a while in the book
• Millie: friend of Sybil, whom she’s also known for 30 years
• Mitsy: the maid when Sybil and Felix were kids
• Nancy Louise (Young): daughter of Guy
• Theodore Lübeck: Sybil’s neighbor
• Thor: Harry’s dog
• Trudy: friend of Sybil, whom she’s known for 30 years

Strangers

• Alex Toole: the journalist who featured Sybil in a “whatever happened to…” column
• Amos Watts: son of Mick Watts
• Angela Bleeker: Daan’s lawyer in Brussels
• Basam: the representative from Kindred that Sybil befriends
• Dale Woodsen: friend of Bruce; the man who helps Basam get a job
• DM : the person writing hate and threatening mail to Sybil (p. 26, 43, 68)
• Emir: Basam’s son
• Ms. Genet:
• Kalee: Basam’s wife
• Dr. Laura: Harry’s former therapist
• Dr. Oliver: Harry’s new therapist
• Elizabeth Franklin: a woman who sued her kids (p. 16)
• Emerson Franks: Editor-in-Chief of the Baltimore Sun (p. 58)
• Lauren Landry: One of Harry Landry’s sisters
• Melissa Genet: Dean of the College of English at the University of Maryland, College Park
• Tom Buggs: the judge that James clerked for in the 1980s
• Steve: Lauren Landry’s boyfriend
• Susannah: one of Harry Landry’s sisters
• Wendy Watts: Mick Watts’ ex-wife
• Zoha: One of Basam’s children

Authors/Filmmakers

• Ann Patchett
• Diana Gabaldon
• George Lucas
• Joan Didion
• Larry McMurtry

Surprise Characters (AKA Spoilers)

If you are still reading the book while looking at this list, I would consider the details about the characters in this list spoilers; that’s why I put them down here. I’m someone who doesn’t like spoilers, but I have friends who like to read the last chapter of a book at the beginning.

70 characters is a lot, and I believe I’ve captured them all. That being said, if you find there are any missing, please let me know!

I would also love to hear if you have a favorite character.

The post The Correspondent by Virginia Evans: Character Guide appeared first on Passion of Audiobooks.

Virginia Evans

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my rating

Book Summary: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Sybil Van Antwerp is a retired lawyer and law clerk who lives in Virginia, outside of Washington, D. C. Even though the book takes place from 2012 to 2021 (AKA, when smartphones and texting abounded as a means of communication), Sybil’s prefered form of communication is written letters, and emails when she has to.

She write’s letters and emails to her best friend, her brother, her children, a young boy, her neighbors, her gardening club, authors, and customer service reps. Through her correspondence, we learn about her life, her marriage, her children, her hobbies, the books she’s reading, and the pain she carries.

What starts as a book about grief, loneliness, and regret ends as a book about hope, love, understanding, forgiveness, and optimism.

Book Review: The Correspondent

This is a spoiler-free review. I hint at some specifics, but I do not reveal specifics that I think will spoil the reading experience for you.

My Take . . .

I’ll be honest, I had very little interest in this book, but when everyone started posting their favorite books of the year, it was on so many lists. I had to see if it lived up to the hype.

First, I decided to get the book on audio, which I found to be the wrong medium for this book. I have never returned an audiobook so fast. If it didn’t have emails, it would probably be fine, but the audiobook narrators have to read the email addresses, which I found very irritating to listen to. I decided to buy the physical copy.

I think this is one of those cases where you want a physical copy of the book. Letters just work better that way. For example, there are places where words are crossed out, which I think just don’t work as well on audio. (That being said, I know people have enjoyed the audiobook, but I wanted to offer my experience. While I love audiobooks, there are times when they don’t work as well, and this is one of them.)

I think this book definitely deserves the praise it’s receiving. That doesn’t mean everyone loves it (obviously). I think someone used to reading plot-driven novels like thrillers might not find this book as interesting by comparison. That being said, there is plenty of plot in this book.

By the time this book was over, I was crying like a baby, and very few books have that effect on me. I loved it!

What I Liked . . .

• It’s very impressive that this story is told entirely through letters and emails. It feels like someone is letting you into a very private side of their life that we don’t typically get to see.
• I liked how Sybil formed interesting, unlikely friendships with a variety of people, from children to the immigrant customer service rep she interacts with.
• For being a relatively short book, it is surprisingly sweeping. While the letters start in 2012 and end in 2021, it takes the reader back to Sybil’s professional and family life in the 1980s.
• While it is definitely not a thriller, it also has several surprising twists and turns.
• Evans shows the struggles of life as we age and the physical limitations that begin to happen.
• The complex relationship that Sybil has with her children and friends felt very realistic.
• I also think the portrayal of the tension working women face when trying to balance work and family life felt very realistic.
• This made me think a lot about the intimate nature of letter writing compared to quick text messages and emails.
• It also pulls back the curtain on the complex nature of being a judge.
• There is also a found-family element to this book, along with a sweet romance that I loved.

What I Didn’t Like

• While Evans does an impressive job of telling this story through letters, the nature of this type of storytelling ends up leaving out details that I wish could have been explained in some way, maybe by adding in occasional chapters told by a narrator or something like that.
• One thing that will bug me about a historical fiction novel is when the author has a character do or say something contemporary. There was one small instance of that when the author says that people referred to Sybil as the “work wife” to her law partner in the 1980s. As someone who grew up in the 80s, I do not remember this terminology ever being used until much later. (But correct me if I’m wrong!)

Who This Book I For . . .

• If you are looking for a book that is thoughtful and reflective.
• If you are in the mood for a quiet book that is also emotionally resonant.
• If you liked books such as How to Read a Book by Monica Wood or Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, I think you would like this book.
• If you’re looking for a great book club pick! (There is A LOT to discuss!)

The post Book Review: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans appeared first on Passion of Audiobooks.