♡ Thank you for the free ARC, Crown Publishing and NetGalley. Thank you for the free audiobook, PRH Audio.
Synopsis
Throughout her life Sybil Van Antwerp has used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings around half past ten Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has. A mother, grandmother, wife, divorcée, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
Thoughts
Take all of my stars, author Virginia Evans! Wow, what a debut and memorable epistolary novel. I pre-ordered a copy for my home library promptly after finishing the ARC since it touched my heart. I love a story with a mature and feisty main character. Although Sybil was flawed and I wished she had handled a few things differently, I found her very human and relatable, which is what left me in tears. This book had so much depth, with themes that include communication, loneliness, identity, aging, mental health, trauma, healing, and forgiveness. This is one that I will be thinking about for some time.
★★★★★
☊ Listening to this story via audiobook was wonderful. Narrators Maggi-Meg Reed, Jane Oppenheimer, Carly Robins, Jeff Ebner, David Pittu, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Mark Bramhall, Petrea Burchard, Robert Petkoff, Kimberly Farr, Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Peter Ganim, and Jade Wheeler did an exceptional job.