emilybookedup's Reviews > The Correspondent

you know those books you don’t expect much of them pick up on a whim but you end up absolutely falling in love with? this was that book for me! 🎧📖💖

this was not on my 2025 release radar at all, but i started seeing some of my fellow bookworms post about it and was in need of a new audiobook so i snagged it on a whim and finished it in two settings. this book was SO creative as it’s an epistolary novel (told in the form of letters).

read if you like: THE EVIDENCE OF THE AFFIAR (another epistolary novel), TOM LAKE and SANDWICH. also for fans of family drama, pure litfic and character driven novels

i didn’t know much about it going in and tbh reco you do the same—just know that it follows adult characters really reflecting on their life through letters. our MC is a darling lady named Sybil and she was so likeable even despite her flaws (which you learn through her letters and life reflection in her old age).

🎧🎧🎧🎧 and the audiobook!!!!! OMG. my favorite thing about this book was the full cast audio narration! if you are looking for an audiobook or even a place to start with audiobooks, i highly recommend this one! the audiobook format brought the raw emotion and feelings of the characters as told through the letters to life in such a beautiful way. i’m sure the physical copy is good, but i would find it hard to believe that you could really feel the raw emotion like you do in the audiobook if you ended up reading it. esp the final chapter 😭😭😭😭😭

this book was also pretty quick and really easy to read despite it covering some very heavy topics (child loss, cancer, blindness, family drama and more).

i think what i loved most about it was how raw yet simple it was… it’s just a simple reminder that we’re all just little people living in this big ole world and have our own internal struggles and desires. also how you’re never “too old” to start over… whether it’s with a new hobby, travelling the world, falling in love again… or asking for forgiveness.

i also loved how the author used written letters as a way to bring back some of that reflection and nostalgia. there’s something to be said about sitting down, taking out a paper and a pen, really sitting with your thoughts and being sure of what you wanna say, and then putting it pen to paper. i think there’s so much power in the pause… and it’s something that in this digital world with cell phones and immediate contact at all times is something we could all have a gentle reminder of.

now i’m off to go write a letter to someone i love 💖

a big thanks to PRH audio for the audio copy! go grab it now!