finished reading

This charming epistolary novel begins with a curmudgeonly exchange. As we learn more about Sybil Van Antwerp, it is clear why she favors letter writing as her primary means of communication.  Sybil navigates several relationships: her brother, her lifelong bestie, her daughter, among others, and comes to realize that the letter she never sent is the most important one.

I liked the format.  I liked that the characters were rich and flawed.  I especially enjoyed the discussions about reading and literature. And I liked the audio cast.

From the publisher:

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.