Sybil Von Antwerp is a 73-year old cranky old lady, rather reclusive, unpleasantly opinionated, estranged from her daughter, and coldly formal to her kindly neighbor. Before retirement she was a lawyer. She is also divorced. But there is more to her than this caricature.

Sybil writes letters to people, nearly every day. She writes to her children, her childhood friend, and her neighbor. She writes to famous authors, to the dean of the English Department at the University of Maryland—where she audits classes, and anonymous people in corporations. She is pen pals with a teenage boy, a tycoon in Texas who is trying to date her, and an unknown thug from her past who is trying to intimidate her.

In the course of all the correspondence, the caricature—which Sybil herself has bought into—gives way to a complex person who needs to come clean, to forgive others and herself, and to find a sort of resurrection in her old age.

I listened to the book’s Audible presentation and found it exceptionally well performed.

The novel makes a strong case for the written word, for handwritten letters, and for the importance of slowing a relationship down to give it a thoughtfulness that only writing can bring about. The novel makes a good, thoughtful, and compelling argument for the value of written letters–dimensions of relationship that are not experienced in verbal exchange, phone calls, social media posts, emails–and especially text messages.