"Epistolary novels were once all the rage, from the epic Clarissa to the lurid fun of Dracula. They don't come along very often now, perhaps because they can be tricky to do well: all those gaps and omissions, the need for a flawless command of tone and voice, the problem of creating movement within an unusually hermetic form. But every now and then a book appears that's a breakout success."
"Three times a week, 73-year-old Sybil Van Antwerp sits down at her desk in her Maryland home to write her letters. Her correspondence has been, as she puts it, the mainstay of my life. Recipients include her best friend Rosalie, her brother Felix, the unhappy young son of a former colleague, and an unnamed correspondent to whom Sybil writes much more emotionally raw letters, which remain unsent and fulfil a similar function to the diary sections often included in older epistolary novels."
"Sybil's voice is direct, irascible, always somewhat at odds with the world around her: Dear Rosalie, begins one letter briskly, I haven't heard from you. Waiting for your response to my last, but cannot wait for ever. She is a pleasingly contradictory character: prickly and obstinate, but equally capable of generosity and wisdom."
"Crucially, the novel never feels static, despite its form. Covering a span of several years, the narrative packs in the emergence of two separate suitors for Sybil, glimpses of her formidable legal career, a DNA testing kit, and the painful"
A modern epistolary novel uses letters written over several years to build a lively narrative despite a hermetic form. A 73-year-old woman in Maryland writes three times a week, addressing friends, family, and an unnamed correspondent whose unsent letters function like diary material. Her voice is direct and irascible, often at odds with the world, yet she also shows generosity and wisdom. The correspondence includes multiple suitors, glimpses of a demanding legal career, and personal revelations involving a DNA testing kit. The story maintains momentum through shifting relationships and escalating emotional stakes.
#epistolary-fiction #contemporary-romance #character-driven-narrative #womens-fiction #family-and-relationships
Read at www.theguardian.com
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