I love epistolary novels — partly because it reminds me of my own decades-long, recently-renewed love of writing letters — and so I was eager to read The Correspondent, especially when I saw it getting only positive reviews from fellow readers. I often stay up late reading, but I very rarely am brought to tears by a book. Sybil’s life, as revealed in her letters as well as scattered ones from family, friends, and others, had me turning the pages well past midnight, and I spent the last ones weeping (and trying to not wake my husband lying asleep beside me). It’s such a great story of one women’s life, and the ways in which one moment, one decision, can alter a life forever.