The Correspondent is the story of a woman whose primary love is writing letters. The novel's gimmick is its format is a collection of individual letters to and from Sybil, the main character living alone in her eightieth decade. Recipients and senders include among others: siblings, children, neighbors, friends, old coworkers, teenagers, suitors, and authors. Little by little each individual correspondence assembles the intimate details of a long life lived.

I grabbed this book from my mother-in-law's pile. The Correspondent is full of details that obviously resonate with someone older, someone in the late autumn of their life who spends time reflecting. Sybil is a mother and sister and divorcee. She keeps a tidy garden. Her social life is full. She also had a distinguished career navigating the challenges of sexism. I would peg her as a strong archetype of a second-wave feminist from of the Boomer generation.

So much of the novel is backward looking. This seems natural. However the reader slowly pieces together that there are challenges and relationships unfulfilled and unresolved. Sybil's challenge is to figure out if she is truly satisfied with her life or, if despite her age and relative success, there are meaningful improvements left to make.

While I liked this book and it is a good read, its format constrains it to spending so much time building a history. This is basically a book that recounts a life. It focuses primarily on events of Sybil's past rather than the more interesting, current relationships in her life.