Since 鈥� debut novel 鈥溾�� was published in April 2025, it has become a phenomenon. The novel topped the New York Times鈥� best-seller list for hardcover fiction in February, and it is among the most requested books at the Chicago Public Library.
The book is having a viral moment because people are asking, as two of the book鈥檚 characters do, 鈥淲hat are you reading?鈥� That鈥檚 the way Sybil and a friend have ended letters to each other since childhood, and it鈥檚 part of a trove of letters, exchanges between the 70-something Sybil Van Antwerp and her garden club, a customer service rep, the suicidal son of a colleague, or famous authors like Joan Didion and Ann Patchett, whom Sybil befriended through letters written on perfect stationery, with perfect pens.
But an imperfect world is pressing in on her. We see that Sybil鈥檚 controlled prose, as good as some of the authors she writes to, is covering a terrible grief, as well as guilt, over the loss of a child.
As the real Ann Patchett writes about 鈥淭he Correspondent,鈥� 鈥業t鈥檚 a book about how one woman changes at a point where change seems impossible.鈥�
8 questions with Virginia Evans
What鈥檚 it been like to see Sybil embraced a year after being published?
鈥淪he鈥檚 just soaring, isn鈥檛 she, all over the world? I do think of her kind of as a real person. And it has been the surprise of a lifetime.
鈥淵ou publish a novel and you鈥檝e never published a novel before, and my expectation was that it would come out and we would sell some copies and that would be enough.
鈥淗ere we are selling and selling and selling more copies than I ever imagined we would sell.鈥�
Who would you say Sybil is?
鈥淚 would say Sybil is a woman who has lived with grief for a long time and disappointment. But that鈥檚 not all that she is. She鈥檚 funny and she鈥檚 very smart and she鈥檚 very kind and she鈥檚 a little misguided at times.鈥�
She has a quaint way of speaking. It鈥檚 very formal, like how an older woman might speak on Masterpiece Theater.
鈥淚 think the way Sybil curates her communication in letters is not, I imagine, necessarily how she speaks. There鈥檚 something really beautiful about her habit of correspondence, but there is also something about it that she鈥檚 always editing herself. Her written self is so proper and so perfectly articulated, and I think some of that is authentic, but some of that is her being very careful to keep it all looking quite perfect on the outside.鈥�
Are people telling you they鈥檙e writing more letters?
鈥淵es, it is amazing. There鈥檚 some statistics that there鈥檚 been more mail circulating. That is so thrilling. There鈥檚 something about the vehicle of letters in the story that provides this beauty.
鈥淪o, I鈥檓 a letter writer. I think there is something so beautiful and permanent and timeless about receiving a letter and keeping a letter. And it is an artifact. If somebody reads this book and sends a letter that says something meaningful, that uplifts someone in their [life]. I mean, that feels like the best possible result from all of this.鈥�
Can you please read a paragraph from one of the letters.
鈥淭his is from an early letter Sybil is writing to Joan Didion.
鈥淪he says, 鈥淚n response to your second more complex question, I鈥檝e sat and thought for nearly a week, how does it all feel to me now? I suppose there is this one part of it which is Gilbert never left me, and the circumstances of his death have never for one day diminished. And as I age, it feels so strange that the majority of people with whom I come in contact don鈥檛 have the slightest inkling that he ever lived. I had him for so much less time than I鈥檝e lived without him. And yet his presence is enormous, though I keep it to myself. It is as if I have swallowed a hot air balloon. But try not to let on.鈥�
鈥淎nd there she鈥檚 talking about the death of her son when he was 8 years old.鈥�
In your author acknowledgments, we find out a real loss of your dear friends. You write, 鈥楽ix-year-old Wade died and time stopped鈥�. Can you tell us about Wade鈥檚 impact?
鈥淚鈥檓 so happy that you asked. I love to be able to talk about Wade. We have these great friends and their son became sick. He passed away. He was 6 years old. It鈥檚 hard to even articulate.
鈥淏ut it was an act of the imagination, you know, to take it to having lived with that sadness for 40 years [as Sybil did].
鈥淚 became very, very thoughtful and careful about a parent or parents losing a child and what it can feel like and what it doesn鈥檛 feel like. And they were so enthusiastic for me to include that in the acknowledgments.
鈥淚 remember his mother saying to me, 鈥楢ny person who gets to read my son鈥檚 name, because they read it in the back of your book, that is an added gift to me in my life. It just lets his name be repeated and repeated and read and read.鈥欌��
Why a whole book of letters? You call out authors, including John Williams and his book 鈥楽toner.鈥�
鈥淚 love a book, and letters. I think it鈥檚 such a generous vehicle for the reader because there鈥檚 so much space to turn the page and take a breath and change your perspective. It really started there and then it was kind of this question of, 鈥極K, well, what story can you tell through letters? Like whose story could be told in this quaint, old-fashioned way?鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting you mentioned 鈥楽toner鈥� by John Williams. That book really was part of the inspiration behind this book because at the beginning of 鈥楽toner,鈥� there鈥檚 that one- page sort of summary of his life for his obituary sort of at the beginning, and it seems very dull. And then the whole book is the story of his life and how compelling it is. Even though it seems one dimensional, it鈥檚 not.
鈥淭hat really was part of the inspiration with this book: Pick somebody out of the world who you think that would be a boring story to tell and see, 鈥楥an you show how that鈥檚 not a boring story because nobody鈥檚 story is boring?鈥� And so I thought, 鈥極K, if you take a woman who鈥檚 in her seventies and eighties, she鈥檚 retired, she鈥檚 divorced, she lives alone, keeps to herself, pretty set in her ways. And can you tell the story of her life that is interesting?鈥�
How did you, at 39, know about that part of older age?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. I think there鈥檚 so many wonderful women in my life who I鈥檝e sat around listening to. I just. I just love to be in conversation with people older than me. I just have enjoyed listening, having people older than me kind of show me the way and also imagination. And I was thinking about this actually recently, how much reading fiction gives you the empathy and the perspective to understand. I was just reading Ann Patchett鈥檚 鈥榃histler鈥�. [The story is] a lot about people aging and reflecting and having this hindsight on choices that they made, ways they treated other people, and just the sort of wisdom that comes with age. Maybe I just have an old soul. That鈥檚 something that I鈥檝e been told through my whole life.鈥�
This interview was edited for clarity.
Book excerpt: 鈥楾he Correspondent鈥�
By Virginia Evans
Excerpted from 鈥淭he Correspondent鈥� by Virginia Evans. Copyright 漏 2026 by Virginia Evans. Published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
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