I was about halfway through this when it was announced as the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction a couple of weeks ago and I am delighted that it won as I have enjoyed it very much. The story spans several years from 2012 to 2022 and is told almost entirely in the form of letters to and from the main character Sybil van Antwerp. Sybil is a woman in her 70s, divorced for twenty-five years from her Belgian husband. She has two adult children, one of whom, her daughter Fiona, lives in England, the other a son, Bruce, lives closer to her home in Maryland. We also learn quite early on that Sybil and her husband Dan had another child, Gilbert, who died at the age of eight.
Sybil is long-retired but had a distinguished career in law, as clerk to a judge. Her lifelong hobby has been letter-writing, and she writes to everyone! From lengthy, newsy, intimate letters to her childhood friend Rosalie (who married the brother of Sybil’s ex-husband), to shorter letters of admiration to favourite authors (she is a regular correspondent with Joan Didion, with whom she shares an interest in the grieving process), to very short and no-holds barred letters of disapproval to the Dean of the local college where she has for years attended courses (as an auditor) and now finds she is no longer permitted to do so. Though her first love is pen and paper, Sybil has also acquainted herself with email and there are a number of exchanges – one with a customer service agent named Bassam, a refugee from Syria, who deals with her queries and concerns about taking a DNA test after having been gifted a subscription by her son (Sybil was adopted as a baby). Sybil strikes up quite a friendship with him.
Sybil can come across as harsh and difficult at times, but we also see her softer, more caring side in the exchanges she has with Harry, the neurodivergent teenage son of a former colleague, now friend, with whom she seems to have a curious rapport, despite their large age difference. When Harry experiences some severe mental health difficulties it is Sybil who steps in, without question.
This is a novel about ageing and self-discovery, and about making peace with the facts of your life. Sybil is losing her sight – she has a degenerative eye condition – and this is devastating to her, not least because it threatens to put an end to her letter-writing. But as her sight deteriorates she gains new insights into her past life; she explores the painful circumstances of her son’s death and faces up to the fact that while she will never stop grieving, she must look that grief in the face and truly feel it. In doing so, she may be able to liberate herself from the self-imposed life sentence of guilt and allow herself to find happiness in her later life.
This is a really moving novel that explores some powerful universal themes, but tells its story in an accessible, entertaining, sometimes funny, sometimes very sad way. A really interesting idea, cleverly executed and beautifully written.
I have still to read three of the other shortlisted novels, but this was the most compelling of the ones I have read so far. I listened to it on audio and the performances were excellent, really bringing to life the cast of characters.
Highly recommended.
Julia's books 