How buzzy prizewinner The Correspondent saves a lost art

June 24, 2026 — 7:30pm

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What a joy to see that Virginia Evans’ novel The Correspondent has won the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. It’s a fine example of a very old form, the epistolary novel (a novel written partly or entirely through letters), and in this age of tweets, texts and emails, it reminds us that the handwritten letter is an art that doesn’t deserve to die.

Evans’ protagonist, Sybil Van Antwerp, is a reclusive woman in her seventies whose main occupation in life is writing letters. She is organised, diligent, intelligent and persistent. If you got a letter from Sybil, you would jolly well reply.

As we follow the story through Sybil’s letters, occasional emails and the replies she receives, the narrow focus on a solitary woman at her writing desk opens out onto a panorama of loved ones, friends, strangers and a mysterious enemy. Her letters allow her to communicate but also to........

© The Age