Totally Booked with Zibby

Guest: Virginia Evans, Author of The Correspondent

Release Date: January 1, 2026

Episode Overview

Host Zibby Owens welcomes debut novelist Virginia Evans to discuss her epistolary novel, The Correspondent. This heartfelt conversation covers the novel’s themes of grief, forgiveness, starting over in later life, and the long, winding journey Virginia Evans took to publication. They discuss letter writing as both literary device and dying art, the personal loss underpinning parts of the book, and the value of persistence and vulnerability for both writers and readers.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Virginia’s Publication Journey

• Pub Day Emotions ([03:37])

  • Virginia shares that her book's launch was "indescribable," feeling surreal after years of hoping and waiting.

    “All during pub day I felt a little bit like I was floating above my life and observing it or something magical. Sort of doesn't even touch it, but that's the closest.” — Virginia Evans ([03:45])

• Path to Publication

  • Before this, Virginia wrote eight unpublished novels. She persisted through two decades of rejection, only for her agent to see promise in The Correspondent—a project started from a place of personal exhaustion and low spirits.

• Writing During Hard Times ([14:05])

  • She began The Correspondent amid COVID, after returning unexpectedly from living abroad. The story was born in “a very low kind of sad time,” which allowed for audacious creative choices because she “wasn’t planning to show anyone.”

About The Correspondent

• Book Synopsis ([04:16])

  • The story, told entirely through letters and emails, centers on Sybil Van Antwerp, a retired, divorced woman in her 70s. Sybil views this era as her last act until mysterious letters, failing eyesight, and a return of connections from her past inject new fullness into her life.

  • Evans likens the book to a puzzle:

    “Every letter is a piece... by the end, you have this full image of a person and the whole story of her life.” — Virginia Evans ([05:49])

• Modernity Meets Tradition ([06:27])

  • The book is set from 2012–2019, bringing the letter format into a contemporary context. Notably, the protagonist writes to real-life author Ann Patchett, blurring fiction and reality; Patchett also provided a cover blurb. “Letter writing is sort of thought of as very passé, but I did want to bring it into modern times.” — Virginia Evans

• Epistolary Form Inspiration ([07:48])

  • Evans’ model included works like 84, Charing Cross Road and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, appreciating their “airiness and lightness” as well as their accessibility to readers:

    “With a book of letters... you just kind of feel like, oh, this is kind. I'll just read one more. It's just one more page... and then you get to the end.” — Virginia Evans

  • The idea sprang from the delight of those books: “I want to try to write a book in letters and see if I can do it. And then the story kind of started to grow after that.” ([10:25])

The Role of Grief and Personal Experience

• Real-life Tragedy Reflected in Fiction ([10:34]; [13:20])

  • A close family friend’s loss of a child deeply changed the direction and emotion of the novel.

    “That element of grief and losing a child was already in the book. And then I walked through this very closely with these friends.... And it was so strange, because I had been writing this book, and then I was actually dealing with that situation, and it changed. It changed me. And it changed the book.” — Virginia Evans

  • Virginia intentionally names Wade, the late son, in the episode, underscoring the personal nature of the writing.

• Themes of Grief, Forgiveness, and the Messiness of Life ([23:15])

  • “I just want to tell someone, some very normal person's story and show that every person's story is interesting... I hope people will feel the freedom to forgive themselves and to say, we all make huge mistakes... But also I'm a human being with dignity and this is my life and I can be forgiven.” — Virginia Evans
  • The novel attempts to universalize difficult emotions—grief, regret, hope, and joy—as elements present in all lives.

Long Road to Authorship & Rejection

• On Persevering through Rejection ([16:39]; [19:22]; [21:42])

  • Virginia started writing novels at 19; The Correspondent is her ninth, emerging after 20 years of effort.

    “Now I have this experience of being published... And I think I appreciate it more than anyone appreciates it... But it doesn't delete like the agony of being alone, rejected thousands of times... It's still part of who I am.”— Virginia Evans

  • She references finding hope in author interviews—mentioning Elizabeth Strout as inspiration for resilience—and the importance of sharing the true difficulty of the writing path.

• Vulnerability in the Writing Community ([21:16])

  • Virginia and Zibby agree that rejection is a near-universal experience among writers, even though success stories are often shared without the struggles that preceded them.

    “I just never want to forget that. I don't want to forget that. And I want to say... I needed people to say that along the way.” — Virginia Evans ([21:42])

The Continuing Magic of Letters

• On Letter Writing, Stationery, and Aspirations ([27:25])
  • Discussion tilts toward the tactile joys of paper and the allure of starting a letter-writing revival, potentially through collaboration with artists for themed stationery.

    “Are you making cards with this, like, are there going to be the correspondent cards with these little birds and everything?” — Zibby Owens
    “I have a dear friend who... designed a cover... And so she and I have been talking about maybe she would design some stationary or some letter writing paper. But I do think it would be perfect.” — Virginia Evans

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the audacity and privacy of writing from a low place

  “That's probably why the book has such audacious moves like writing in the voice of Joan Didion... I just wasn't planning to show anyone. I was just writing it. I wrote it inside my closet.” — Virginia Evans ([14:05])

• On the satisfaction of finishing the novel

  “By the end, especially like the last few missives... you just ended it on such a... It was just very emotional and just so great... a great way to wrap it up.” — Podcast Host ([06:47])

• Reflections on empathy, friendship, and wisdom

  “You must be such a good friend... I bet your friends are so lucky that you're a close friend because you are so, like, empathetic and present and have that old soul wisdom to you and all that.” — Podcast Host/Interviewer ([27:09])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:37 — Virginia’s emotional response to book publication
• 04:16 — Overview of The Correspondent’s structure and synopsis
• 07:48 — Inspiration for using the epistolary format
• 10:34 — The impact of a family friend’s tragedy on the novel’s depiction of grief
• 14:05 — How COVID, failure, and hardship shaped the writing process
• 16:39 — Evans recounts her long journey and earlier unpublished novels
• 21:42 — The importance of acknowledging the realities of writerly rejection
• 23:15 — What Evans hopes readers take away from Sybil’s story
• 27:25 — Discussion about creating themed stationery and celebrating letter writing

Summary Takeaways

• The Correspondent bridges the past and present through the power of letter writing, offering deep emotional resonance about life’s unpredictable chapters, grief, and forgiveness.
• Virginia Evans’ 20-year road to publication underscores the necessity of persistence and openness to vulnerability.
• The episode is both an intimate look at an author’s creative life and a testament to the redemptive power of storytelling—reminding listeners and aspiring writers alike that even after many failures, new beginnings are possible.