AMS Book CLub - December

Host: Sharon J’s home (SW Rochester) or over Zoom for those who prefer, email

sharontjoyce@gmail.com for information and to RSVP.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD • Discover

the word-of-mouth hit hailed by Ann Patchett as “A cause for celebration”—an intimate

novel about the transformative power of the written word and the beauty of slowing down to

reconnect with the people we love.

“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are

like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think

that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean

something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of

a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might

never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the

mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.

Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life 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, divorcee,

distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very 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 that 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.

Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of

the most memorable characters you will ever read.