I read The Correspondent (2025) by Virginia Evans about a month ago and I was sure at the time that I would be posting my thoughts. But the energy wasn’t there to write a review. The words just wouldn’t come. And I am not sure the words are here now but when I learned today that The Correspondent has won the 2026 Women’s Prize for fiction I was pleased and I wanted to write something.

​The Correspondent is a novel told in the form of letters and when the book begins we are introduced to Sybil Van Antwerp. She is a 73 year old retired lawyer, mother, friend and letter writer. Sybil has been writing letters to the people in her life since childhood and at first she can be a hard person to warm up to. Sybil will tell you what’s on her mind and needless to say her relationship with her grown children is strained.

​And Sybil as we learn at the beginning of the book has been living with tragedy. The death of her middle son Gilbert who drowned decades ago when he was 8 during a family vacation. She does not write much about her son’s death in her letters to family and friends but it is clear in her unsent letters that she has never gotten over Gilbert’s death. The tragic drowning has profoundly shaped her life. And its only at the end of the novel that we understand why.

​The Correspondent has touched so many readers. And in addition to the excellent writing I think other factors have made this novel a hit with the public. Sybil’s letter writing for example is such a neat idea, writing a letter a day at 10:00 am to family, friends, favorite authors etc. Sybil doesn’t expect a reply. She just likes to engage with the world through stationery.

​And then I think the main reason The Correspondent has struck a chord is the tragedy at the center of the novel. We think we know what happened with Gilbert but it becomes clear at the end of the book that we don’t know the specifics and why Sybil cannot forgive herself. And by the end we feel a connection with Sybil because to live is to have regrets. Things we wish we could do over but can’t and The Correspondent addresses that very human experience.

​Congratulations to Virginia Evans, winner of the 2026 Women’s Prize for fiction.