A Corresponding Value & Tale
This is the kind of breakout novel that arrives quietly and then stays with you.
"I wept more than once watching this extraordinary woman come to know herself with greater clarity and courage.
LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE AND THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Elle, Christian Science Monitor, She Reads
"Think of the letters we send into the world, and the ones that find their way back to us, as fragments of a beautiful puzzle. Isn't it marvelous to imagine that a life story is preserved this way-that even a single letter might someday matter, however modestly, to someone else?"
Rich with the hard-earned wisdom of a life fully lived, This is a luminous novel about the comfort of books, the intimacy of language, and the surprising connections we form with people we may never meet face-to-face. It explores the arrogance of youth, the grace of aging, and the small cruelties and quiet kindnesses that shape a lifetime.
For as long as she can remember, Sybil has relied on letters to understand the world and her place within it. Nearly every morning at half past ten, she settles in to write-to her brother, her closest friend, the university president who refuses to let her audit a class she longs to take, to Joan and Larry with her candid thoughts on their latest work, and to one person in particular, to whom she writes again and again but never sends a word.
Sybil assumes her life will continue as it always has. She has been many things-a mother and grandmother, a wife and a divorc e, a formidable lawyer-and she believes her story is largely behind her. But when letters from someone long absent reopen one of the most painful chapters of her past, Sybil is forced to confront what she has avoided for years. The letter she has been writing all along must finally be read, and she cannot move forward without finding a way to forgive.
Her life of letters may seem, as she herself suggests, "a very small thing." Yet she may also be one of the most unforgettable characters you'll ever encounter on the page.
Customer Reviews
ThriftBooks® and the ThriftBooks® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
