Virginia Evans on The Correspondent, Writer's Resilience & Ann Patchett's Kindness
This episode was such a joy to record! I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Virginia Evans about her stunning debut novel The Correspondent; a book I truly loved. One of my favourite moments during our chat was hearing Virginia share the incredible story of how writing a letter to none other than Ann Patchett turned into a real friendship. Isn’t it just so heartening to know that someone as iconic as Ann Patchett would take the time to encourage and support a new writer?
In our conversation, Virginia opens up about her writing journey—from early rejections to the sheer determination that kept her going (thank goodness she did!). We talk about what inspired The Correspondent, how her unforgettable protagonist Sybil came to be, and the enduring power of letter writing in an increasingly digital world.
We also reflect on what we might be losing as we move away from the handwritten word. I loved hearing how passionate Virginia is about this, especially as someone who’s always felt a bit self-conscious about my own handwriting. She’s inspired me to embrace the scrawl, good luck to anyone receiving my cards!
And of course, Virginia shares the five books that shaped her life which were:
The Firm by John Grisham (not currently available on bookshop.org)
One By One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Also mentioned in this episode:
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell
I also mentioned having my mum’s handwriting embroidered into a piece of art. See Ivy & Stitch for details.
I really hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I’ll be back next week with the final episode in this Season (how have eight weeks flown by so fast).
If you are enjoying the show I’d be so grateful if you could take the time rate, review, subscribe and most importantly tell your friends all about it.
Thanks for listening and see you next week!
Transcript
Welcome back to Best Book Forward.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Helen, and this is the podcast where we dive into the literary landscapes that have shaped our favourite authors lives.
Speaker A:Think of it as a bookish version of Desert Island Discs.
Speaker A:Today I'm so happy to be welcoming the wonderful Virginia Evans to the show.
Speaker A:I absolutely loved Virginia's debut novel, the Correspondent.
Speaker A:It is a joy to read and I cannot wait to chat to Virginia about it.
Speaker A:Okay, in a nutshell, the Correspondent is about Sybil Van Antwerp, who is one of those characters who just gets straight into your heart and makes themselves completely at home there.
Speaker A:The story is told beautifully through a series of letters and it is the wise, warm, funny and moving portrait of one woman's lives and all its ups and downs.
Speaker A:Virginia joins me today to chat all about her writing journey, what inspires her and how much she treasures the handwritten word.
Speaker A:And of course, you know the drill.
Speaker A:We'll also be diving into the five books that have shaped her life.
Speaker A:So let's get stuck in and give a massive warm welcome to the brilliant Virginia Evans.
Speaker A:Virginia, welcome to Best Foot Forward and thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker B:You, Helen, it's so nice to be with you.
Speaker B:I love your bookshelves.
Speaker A:Oh, thank you.
Speaker A:They're a bit of a mess today.
Speaker A:Don't look too closely, I need a tidy up.
Speaker A:I've been so excited to chat to you.
Speaker A:I love the Correspondent and actually we were just saying you've just flown thrown in yesterday.
Speaker A:So thank you for braving your jet lag to come and chat to me about it today.
Speaker B:And I'm squished into this kind of wedge in the bed and the desk.
Speaker B:You can see the bed here.
Speaker A:Don't move around too much.
Speaker A:So do you want to start off by painting a picture for our listeners who might not have picked up the Correspondent yet?
Speaker A:What, what it's all about?
Speaker B:Yes, please.
Speaker B:The Correspondent refers to a woman named Sybil Van Antwerp.
Speaker B:And Sybil, when the book starts, she's just turned 73.
Speaker B:I believe it's 73 or maybe it's 74, but she's just had a birth.
Speaker B:And what, what the Correspondent is, is a book told all through the letters of Sybil between herself and her friends, family, a variety of other cast of characters, some famous people, some, you know, people in her community.
Speaker B:And the book is really a portrait of Sybil and her life and kind of what has happened in her life and what's happening now and sort of what's going to still happen.
Speaker B:And, and I think that the Way I imagine the book is that the letters are pieces of a puzzle.
Speaker B:And as you.
Speaker B:Every letter you read, you know, there are these brief kind of a couple of pages or less than a page, and everyone is a small puzzle piece.
Speaker B:And by the time you sort of put all the puzzle pieces in, I hope that what you have at the end is.
Speaker B:Is the whole picture and the whole portrait of Sybil and.
Speaker B:And something that is important to me and sort of, I think it's important to say about the book is that as you enter, you think, well, what can happen?
Speaker B:You know, she's older and she's retired and her children are grown and she's divorced.
Speaker B:You know, what can happen?
Speaker B:But I think a lot happens in.
Speaker B:In this kind of late era of her life.
Speaker A:It does.
Speaker A:We'll keep it spoiler free.
Speaker A:And actually, when I was sort of thinking about it, I was thinking it is.
Speaker A:It's like fragments of a life brought together through letters.
Speaker A:And there is a little bit of a mystery sort of bubbling through, like moments from her past are sort of coming back to meet her.
Speaker A:It's the book about connections and making mistakes and kindness.
Speaker A:And as I just said to you, I think it's a book that book lovers will really wholly fall in love with and embrace because it is just a celebration of books and authors and reading and the written word and what could be better than that?
Speaker A:Getting carried away.
Speaker A:I love to always hear about what gets an author's creative wheels turning.
Speaker A:So where was the inspiration?
Speaker A:Where did it come from?
Speaker B:Um, this book I had just finished.
Speaker B:I had finished this previous book.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:I've written several books before this that have never been published.
Speaker B:And my agent was trying to sell the last book I had written, and it wasn't selling.
Speaker B:And I was.
Speaker B:It was during COVID and it was, you know, it was demoralizing and disappointing to have another book I had written not sell.
Speaker B:And I was kind of flirting with the idea of stopping altogether.
Speaker B:I had brought up the idea of maybe going to law school, which my husband was not wild about, because I had just finished being in school for I. I had gone to Trinity in Dublin for school.
Speaker B:But I was demoralized and I started to kind of think about writing something else.
Speaker B:My agent really encouraged me to start thinking about a different project.
Speaker B:And so I was thinking of starting a different novel.
Speaker B:But then I just.
Speaker B:I just felt like I needed a minute.
Speaker B:I just needed to kind of turn my brain in a different direction.
Speaker B:And so I started writing this book really as a.
Speaker B:The thought was not to show it to my agent.
Speaker B:The thought was just kind of to get some stuff out of my.
Speaker B:My body, my mind.
Speaker B:I think I had finished reading 84 Charing, Charing, Cross.
Speaker B:Charing, Cross, Charing.
Speaker B:Yeah, okay.
Speaker B:84 Charing, Crossroad.
Speaker B:And I had loved the epistolary format, the.
Speaker B:The format in letters.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:When I finished that book, I thought, I want to try.
Speaker B:I want to try to do that.
Speaker B:I always have this sort of mad mentality when I read something wonderful.
Speaker B:Like, I could do that.
Speaker B:Could I do that?
Speaker A:I think I could do that.
Speaker B:So I.
Speaker B:So that was the kind of letter, the, you know, a novel in letters.
Speaker B:That was where that inspiration came from.
Speaker B:And then I met a woman.
Speaker B:I was interested in buying this woman's house.
Speaker B:My family had moved back from living in Ireland, and we were looking to buy a house in the States.
Speaker B:And I wrote a letter to this woman.
Speaker B:It wasn't for sale, but I happened to know something about her.
Speaker B:She was older, she was retired.
Speaker B:Retired and lived alone.
Speaker B:And I wrote her this letter to say, can I buy your house?
Speaker B:And she wrote back and said, yes, very quickly.
Speaker B:I didn't end up working out, but I went to go meet her at her house.
Speaker B:And she was a lot like Sybil, the main character of my book.
Speaker B:And she was very smart, had had this amazing career.
Speaker B:She had these children.
Speaker B:They were grown.
Speaker B:She had been married, was divorced.
Speaker B:She had a very vibrant social life.
Speaker B:She was preparing a dinner party for that night and having us over.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:She just was so.
Speaker B:She was beautiful and very put together, better dressed than I ever am.
Speaker B:And I just left her house thinking, I wish I could have stayed.
Speaker B:You know, I wish I could have stayed.
Speaker B:And her, like, she had dropped these little kind of details of her life.
Speaker B:And she had art, and some of the art was from far away places.
Speaker B:And I just thought, there's about a hundred things she said that I wanted to follow the trail and.
Speaker B:And that.
Speaker B:And I remember I can still see the trees pulling away from her house and thinking, I wonder.
Speaker B:I wonder who that is.
Speaker B:I wonder what that is.
Speaker B:And that's kind of where my wheel started turning and I started to write the book.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:I just want to go back very quickly to when you're saying, because I think that's something.
Speaker A:I was chatting to somebody the other day who I met in the town where I live who was saying, they want to write a book.
Speaker A:And she written loads, but she was like, oh, nobody's ever had any interest in it, so it might just give Up.
Speaker A:Ah, I'm so glad you didn't.
Speaker A:And I think you really must need to have quite thick skin because, you know, these are really personal work to put so much work into it, so to be sort of turned down.
Speaker A:But thank goodness you carried on because it is such a beautiful book.
Speaker A:It'd be such a shame for it not to be in the world.
Speaker B:Well, thanks.
Speaker B:And it is interesting.
Speaker B:You know, I do think, what if I would have stopped?
Speaker B:I. I think there's a certain thing.
Speaker B:If you have the.
Speaker B:If you're.
Speaker B:I think if you have.
Speaker B:If you're a writer, you can't stop.
Speaker B:I. I sort of think you could never stop.
Speaker B:Even though I. I can't.
Speaker B:I really can hardly articulate how painful.
Speaker B:I mean, this.
Speaker B:I'll be 39 next month.
Speaker B:And I started.
Speaker B:I wrote my first novel.
Speaker B:I started my first novel when I was 19.
Speaker B:So all 20 years.
Speaker B:I mean, more than half of my life, I was trying and failing and trying and failing and sending out.
Speaker B:I mean, hundreds.
Speaker B:Hundreds of, will you take me on, you know, to agents?
Speaker B:And then when I've had two agents, one of my agent relationships went belly up.
Speaker B:And it really was.
Speaker B:It was really grueling.
Speaker B:And it's one thing to talk about it now that I'm on the other side, and I.
Speaker B:It's a story of success.
Speaker B:But I always was saying, my husband and I have been married for a while, and I said to him for years, if I ever.
Speaker B:If it ever turns to success, then I'll look back and say, remember that.
Speaker B:But maybe it never, you know, maybe I never make it all the way.
Speaker B:And it was just.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was.
Speaker B:I don't ever want to forget what it took.
Speaker B:And I also want to say.
Speaker B:Because there were times when I just thought, you know, I just lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling and think, what am I doing?
Speaker B:This is crazy and terrible and agonizing.
Speaker B:And then I would read something or hear something from another author who had taken years and rejections and failure and hear them say, I kept doing it.
Speaker B:And I thought, okay, I guess I'll keep doing it.
Speaker B:Elizabeth Strout was a big inspiration for me in that way, too.
Speaker B:She.
Speaker B:She kind of was published later in life.
Speaker B:And that was.
Speaker B:That helped me.
Speaker B:That really helped.
Speaker A:Well, I was just thinking, as you were saying, that I'm a bit older than you.
Speaker A:I was like, your 20s.
Speaker A:I was thinking in my 20s, I wouldn't have coped very well with that sort of rejection.
Speaker A:I don't think at all, like, quite.
Speaker A:Quite thin Skinned, I think.
Speaker A:And I, like, I don't have any aspirations to be a writer, but I know that I do find everyone finds rejection hard.
Speaker A:So I think that's even more, you know, inspiring that you kept going and thank goodness you did so.
Speaker A:And you have.
Speaker A:You've made it.
Speaker B:I mean, I truly.
Speaker B:I'm sitting here in London.
Speaker B:I've never been to London.
Speaker B:I'm like, I'm in London to talk about my book.
Speaker B:I mean, this is just like it's dream come true.
Speaker A:I'm really happy for you.
Speaker A:Let's talk about the format of the book.
Speaker A:So we just talked about this before coming on, and you have used the word already, but there is a proper word for the format of your novel, which I cannot say.
Speaker A:And I'm not gonna.
Speaker A:It's a hard word and I'm gonna end up like this great big blooper reel of me trying to say it.
Speaker A:So I'm going to leave that to you, Larry.
Speaker B:Novel, the epistolary.
Speaker B:It's like, Larry, I mean, I have to sort of check myself before I say it too.
Speaker A:It's a hard one.
Speaker A:I was saying to you before we came on, I have adhd and I, while reading, is definitely my hyper focus and I sort of tear through books.
Speaker A:I do sometimes find books with a mixed media quite difficult for me to stay engaged with.
Speaker A:You know, like, when you're looking at sort of like email addresses, I'll be sort of trying to concentrate on who's coming from where and.
Speaker A:And everything.
Speaker A:But with a correspondent, I felt like I was there at Sybil's desk, leafing through, physically leafing through her letters, obviously with her permission, because I know she wouldn't want anyone just sort of marching up to her desk and flicking through.
Speaker A:But I would love to talk to you about the planning of the book and what challenges there were from taking this format and how did you balance it to keep readers so engaged and sort of really feel like they knew and understood Sybil's world?
Speaker B:That's a good question.
Speaker B:There was a sort of natural, I would say, in some ways, the structure and the vehicle of the letters gave me so much flexibility.
Speaker B:You know, she could write to anyone and anyone could write back.
Speaker B:And so that gave me sort of this blasted open possibility of she could write to a politician, you know, if there was some.
Speaker B:She could write to a famous person.
Speaker B:She could write.
Speaker B:She could have another brother, she could, you know, there's like kind of she could do anything, really.
Speaker B:And so I, in some ways, a typical narrative structure, which I Know, because I've written books in sort of a more direct narrative structure.
Speaker B:You have to decide what's the voice, what's the moment in time, what's the setting, and then you have to kind of stay there.
Speaker B:And so in some ways, it puts you in a lane, and you have to stay in the lane.
Speaker B:But in this, it was like anything, you know, you could pull in letters from the past.
Speaker B:You could.
Speaker B:You could, you know, all these kinds of things.
Speaker B:And so in that way, I felt whenever there was something I wanted to bring in, it was sort of like I could sort of open it, stick something in, and then rework around it.
Speaker B:So in some ways, it was really fun because I felt anything I wanted to do was fine.
Speaker B:And then every time I introduced a new corresponding partner, it was the.
Speaker B:It was the sort of work, pleasure and work of a new voice.
Speaker B:And trying to make sure every voice was distinct, that was a challenge.
Speaker B:Making sure Sybil's voice was her own voice.
Speaker B:And, you know, there's people she writes to once or maybe twice, and then there's people that she corresponds with throughout.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:It was important to me that every person had their own way of writing.
Speaker B:And that was something that I worked really hard on and kind of tried in editing, kind of rounds of editing, you know, reading and thinking, is that Sybil's voice or is that someone else's voice?
Speaker B:Or what would a person of this age and in this place in the world speak this way?
Speaker B:Trying to speak in voices or write in voices of people from other cultures and countries and different, I don't know, different backgrounds was also something that was important to me to try to get as right as I can.
Speaker B:And then I would say the other challenge was with, you know, in letters, you're.
Speaker B:I'm trying to.
Speaker B:I was trying to tell a story, a good story, but it could be dull, I suppose, if you just felt like you were just stuck at her desk.
Speaker B:So it was, how do you bring in the past and tell what's happening outside and really make a vibrant story?
Speaker B:But you're kind of just in these little.
Speaker B:In these letters.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But I know that I knew that it could be done because I had read a couple books that I thought did that really well.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, that was definitely a challenge.
Speaker B:But I. I think it worked out.
Speaker A:I think it worked out really, really well.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:And actually, I was thinking when you said vibrant, I was like, that's exactly what it is.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:You know, it could be quite a sort of challenge to sort of, you know, understand her life through all these letters and because some of the people she writes to you sort of when you.
Speaker A:She starts sort of.
Speaker A:I was about to say who it was then.
Speaker A:I'm not going to.
Speaker A:But you're like, how is she reaching out to this?
Speaker A:And where is this even going?
Speaker A:I mean, I'm just thinking she writes somebody on a customer service desk and ends up having like this really lovely relationship with.
Speaker A:It's so clever.
Speaker A:And I think you've done it brilliantly.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Let's talk about Sybil.
Speaker A:So I love hearing that that was somebody that you actually met because I was thinking like, who is she?
Speaker A:Where does she come from?
Speaker A:When I first met her, I was like, oh, she's got a bit of sharp edge, hasn't she?
Speaker A:And I was like, is she prickly?
Speaker A:But as I was reading, I was like, I don't think she is.
Speaker A:I think she's the woman of her time.
Speaker A:You know, she's very brave and very accomplished.
Speaker A:And I was like, I'd be really interested to hear from you.
Speaker A:You know, she actually reminded me a little bit of my auntie who we lost last year, who just said what she thought, you know, and we'd sort of laugh about it a little bit like, well, that's really harsh.
Speaker A:But actually there's some merit in it, isn't there?
Speaker B:Yeah, no, I agree.
Speaker B:And the woman I met, the woman whose house we tried to buy, I would say she didn't have that personality trait.
Speaker B:And so that, but that is a trait that I, that I have observed and learned from my mother in law.
Speaker B:And she knows this, and I've said this in a lot of interviews, she's not quite so brusque as Sybil, but she, she, it's just like you said, she comes from a certain time and, and a certain kind of type, a certain world of people from, from the northeast of the United States.
Speaker B:And it's just a, I, it's been interesting to hear how people describe Sybil because really Sybil's taken on a life of her own with this book and people have very strong feelings about her and some of them are not good.
Speaker B:And you know, and there's words like prickly or, I don't know, kind of unkind.
Speaker B:But I, I never have thought of her that way.
Speaker B:I, I don't see my, my mother in law has taught, taught me something when, when she came into my life about saying what you mean and how, how freeing that is in a relationship when you just say what you mean and you know, there's so much of a dance we do in, in some relationships of, you know, I'm saying this, but then I'm like maybe turning around and thinking something else.
Speaker B:But then also as the recipient of that, when you know, someone doesn't say what they mean, you, you walk away wondering, oh, what did they really.
Speaker B:Did I. I don't know.
Speaker B:You ha.
Speaker B:You are.
Speaker B:There's an insecurity in a relationship like that.
Speaker B:But I have so much security in my relationship with my mother in law and she's always spoken to me with this directness.
Speaker B:And when I first met her, it's was surprising to me and it was something that I wasn't used to.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But over time it became.
Speaker B:I think I have a really good relationship with her and I think that's why.
Speaker B:And I don't, I don't wonder what she thinks.
Speaker B:And so a lot of times when I was writing this book, I would be sort of thinking, what would Joyce say?
Speaker B:What would Joyce say in this moment?
Speaker B:And I think, you know, Sybil's coming from a different background.
Speaker B:She has a lot of things she's grappling with, starting early in her life through kind of through later years of her life.
Speaker B:And part of her, you know, part of that trait in her is a hardness, like a tough kind of, you can't hurt me kind of thing.
Speaker B:But also part of it is just a time and a place and a kind of woman.
Speaker B:And, and so I really do have to give credit to my dear mother in law for giving me the sort of, the opening my mind to that in a, in a woman and a smart, educated career woman who is, says what she thinks, that's what she believes.
Speaker A:I guess I just want to touch on when you say that people saying about her kindness, that's not something.
Speaker A:I think one of the things I loved about her is, you know, she, she has made her mistakes, but there's, she's so open to learning and sort of.
Speaker A:Which I think there's, you know, real sort of generosity of spirit in her that I loved.
Speaker A:So like, I wouldn't see how maybe like some of her words, people might sort of think, you know, unkind, but once you get to know her and understand her, then that's not something I would at all say.
Speaker A:I thought she was.
Speaker A:I really respected that about her, actually.
Speaker B:I hope that's true.
Speaker B:And I wanted, I wanted to make, you know, nobody is just kind or just quiet or whatever.
Speaker B:Everybody is so vast inside.
Speaker B:And I just think I wanted, you know, through every One of her letters, she sort of says she sort of gives some of her views to one person and some of her views and.
Speaker B:But when as a reader to get them all, you see kind of this.
Speaker B:I hope you see all the different kind of facets of the way that she is.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I do.
Speaker A:And actually that.
Speaker A:The openness of speech.
Speaker A:I was thinking as you were saying that.
Speaker A:So, you know, we're a very neurodiverse family, so I have a little one who has asd.
Speaker A:And we were saying to him, you know, actually the way he will say what he thinks, and we're like, actually, that's.
Speaker A:That's a skill.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Something that actually a lot of us really struggle, you know, you know, exactly where you are.
Speaker A:We are sort of working on sort of, you know, some of the edges of it a little bit.
Speaker A:But I think, you know, that, you know, there's a lot of people.
Speaker A:I mean, I often.
Speaker A:I'm somebody who will, you know, not say something for fear of hurting somebody's feelings or whatever.
Speaker A:And I'll sort of come away then sort of festering in myself.
Speaker A:I think, you know, that's.
Speaker A:That is something we need to learn as well.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So we just talked about this online, but I.
Speaker A:Before we came online even, I often joke that I would be the world's worst casting director.
Speaker A:When I was reading this Correspondent, I had a voice in my mind, and I was over the moon when we shared the same thought.
Speaker A:So who do you see?
Speaker B:I'm going to keep saying it because maybe someday she'll hear me say it and say, oh, what's she.
Speaker B:What's this Meryl Streep?
Speaker B:I just think it needs to be Meryl Streep.
Speaker A:Yeah, totally.
Speaker B:If someone else wants to be civil and make it a movie, please.
Speaker A:Well, no, I just think it's.
Speaker A:That's who I could hear.
Speaker A:And I was like, I love that you said that.
Speaker A:But it needs to happen.
Speaker A:We need to find.
Speaker A:There must be some sort of link somewhere that we can make somehow somebody listening.
Speaker B:If you have a way.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And Meryl, of course, if you are tuning in this week.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Please hear me say so.
Speaker A:Going back to the letters, one of the things I loved, as I said, how the story unfolds.
Speaker A:And there's people that you'd expect her to be writing to, like her brother.
Speaker A:And as I say, there's, you know, somebody in customer services, but then she also has, you know, people that we will recognize.
Speaker A:I'm thinking of some of the authors that she writes to which I loved.
Speaker A:How did you decide who she was going to write to?
Speaker A:And, you know, when you're using somebody like Ann Patchett, who she writes to, how did that work out for you?
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a good.
Speaker B:That's good question.
Speaker B:There's lots of different kind of details about that that are kind of fun or notable.
Speaker B:When I was writing the book, I was really kind of writing this book, not necessarily thinking I was going to show it to anyone.
Speaker B:And so I think that gave me a lot of courage to write whatever I felt like, you know, in fiction.
Speaker B:There's so much right now in writing fiction that feels suddenly a little like, am I allowed to write that?
Speaker B:Am I?
Speaker B:Am I?
Speaker B:You know, there's a lot of talk right now about who.
Speaker B:Who can write what story.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:That's really challenging in the world of fiction.
Speaker B:I think I was listening to an interview with Ann Patchett, and I believe it was Sue Monk Kid.
Speaker B:And they were.
Speaker B:They were talking about things they wrote 10 years ago.
Speaker B:Maybe they wouldn't feel like would be okay to write now.
Speaker B:I just think it's interesting.
Speaker B:But I had a lot of courage.
Speaker B:And so there's an.
Speaker B:There's a kind of iconic author.
Speaker B:So she writes to a lot of authors.
Speaker B:All of them are authors that I've loved and all the books referenced in the book.
Speaker B:There's a lot of novels referenced in the book, and they're all novels that have meant something to me that I've either loved or have really not loved or.
Speaker B:But they all have.
Speaker B:Are some part of my own reader life, you know, my own, like, reading history.
Speaker B:And then when I was writing two authors, it was, you know, thinking of books that I thought Sybil would have read and sort of loved.
Speaker B:I mean, Sybil and I share a sort of reading, sort of reading life.
Speaker B:I only could write back from authors who are now no longer living.
Speaker B:So you can't write in the voice of someone who's living, but you can write in the voice of someone who has passed away.
Speaker B:So there's only two.
Speaker B:Two times where you read a letter written by an author back, or there's two authors and both of those authors are no longer living.
Speaker B:But they were living during the time that the book was set.
Speaker B:They were never interesting, but they were living during Sybil's time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so those I was allowed to do and then.
Speaker B:And then the other writers she wrote to or.
Speaker B:Or public figures, you know, just come.
Speaker B:Just came out of my imagination.
Speaker B:I will say there's a strong connection for me which is that 10 years ago, I wrote a letter to Ann Patchett, which was kind of a book review of the Court of Not the Correspondent.
Speaker B:That's my book Commonwealth.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And she wrote back.
Speaker B:And we've been writing letters ever since.
Speaker B:And so is, you know, not frequently.
Speaker B:You know, it's kind of like maybe once every six months.
Speaker B:Usually, like, if she would publish a book, I would write to her and then she would write back.
Speaker B:Or when my book was.
Speaker B:When I got an agent, she wrote, you know, wrote to congratulate me and things like that.
Speaker B:And she's just been really kind to me over the years.
Speaker B:She encouraged me not to stop writing.
Speaker B:When my first agent relationship broke down, she connected me with her agent and, you know, just different ways that she is always looking out for people and sort of giving of herself to people that are coming up.
Speaker B:And I hope.
Speaker B:I mean, I am inspired to do the same thing, you know, for other people.
Speaker B:But she was.
Speaker B:She was really kind to me.
Speaker A:I feel quite emotional by that.
Speaker A:So lovely.
Speaker A:And she was just talking.
Speaker A:I can't think which order it's going in.
Speaker A:But I was talking to Francis Quinn, who's going to be on the podcast as well, and we were saying how, you know, I always say books bring people together, but I love that.
Speaker A:And you think, you know, she's such a huge name that she would take the time to, you know, to.
Speaker A:To help somebody.
Speaker A:Starting out as well is really wonderful.
Speaker B:It really is.
Speaker A:And how incredible for you then to have a quote from her on the COVID of your book.
Speaker A:How did that feel?
Speaker B:Well, that was amazing.
Speaker B:And I didn't know that she was going to read it.
Speaker B:I didn't know.
Speaker B:I didn't ask her for the quote.
Speaker B:She.
Speaker B:My editor got wind that she and I had had been, you know, had been pen pals.
Speaker B:Not pen.
Speaker B:Not.
Speaker B:I mean, it's not like we write every week, but we would write over, you know, short amounts of time over the years.
Speaker B:And she.
Speaker B:So my editor reached out to her and said, will you read.
Speaker B:Will you read this book?
Speaker B:And she did.
Speaker B:And so I didn't know that.
Speaker B:And then the.
Speaker B:Then her quote came through, and it was so meaningful to me because she.
Speaker B:I felt she said what I would have wanted her to say about the book.
Speaker B:And then she wrote me a note separately and said, I mean, I framed it.
Speaker B:It's in my.
Speaker B:It's in my study.
Speaker B:But she just told me what she thought about the book, which was really special.
Speaker A:Special.
Speaker A:Well, she's such an important voice as well.
Speaker A:I was just Thinking as you were saying, that, you know, when she talks about book banning and, you know, she's such a supporter in so many ways.
Speaker A:So that is.
Speaker A:That is really.
Speaker A:I'm so happy that she's done that for you.
Speaker A:I think that's just so special when.
Speaker B:You find out that the people you admire are actually wonderful people and not sort of not on the out.
Speaker B:I mean, she's as wonderful or better than what she seems to.
Speaker A:But I always think that about book people like that you just don't meet.
Speaker A:But people who aren't lovely.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:You're so right.
Speaker A:So there's a conversation that keeps popping up on this podcast in sort of different forms.
Speaker A:And it's the.
Speaker A:About the beauty and significance of the handwritten word.
Speaker A:So in season one, Nina Stibby talked about keeping a diary.
Speaker A:And she said, when you write a diary, it's like a gift to your future self.
Speaker A:In this season, Lucy Steeds talked about finding notes that she'd written in the margins of her school books when she was studying and how much that meant to her.
Speaker A:And I think it's season two.
Speaker A:Marianne Cronin talked about finding her grandmother's last shopping list.
Speaker A:And her grandfather had written her last list on it and kept it.
Speaker A:It was so important.
Speaker A:You know, there's that little.
Speaker A:Which is so beautiful.
Speaker A:And I've been thinking about it a lot.
Speaker A:I said to you before we came on, I don't even like writing cards because I have awful handwriting.
Speaker A:I'm actually really embarrassed by how bad my handwriting is.
Speaker A:I can't often read my own notes back.
Speaker A:I actually wrote something down as you were talking.
Speaker A:And then I looked down.
Speaker A:I was like, I don't know what that says.
Speaker A:It's so bad.
Speaker A:But as we were.
Speaker A:As I was thinking about this, I found.
Speaker A:Which I had here, and I'm now lost.
Speaker A:I found an old photo of my siblings that my mom had written on the back of and which I don't know if you can see there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I was like, oh, it just meant so much.
Speaker A:I've actually had.
Speaker A:I found this lady who does this embroidery.
Speaker A:So she embroiders it.
Speaker A:Oh, so you can keep your handwritten.
Speaker B:I was like, send me that.
Speaker A:I will do.
Speaker A:It's such a lovely.
Speaker A:Oh, I just thought I shouldn't have showed that because it's my brother's birthday.
Speaker A:This would have gone out.
Speaker A:It will be a surprise.
Speaker A:It will be a surprise.
Speaker A:Don't worry.
Speaker A:I haven't ruined it.
Speaker B:Tell them not to watch it.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:Don't Watch that bit.
Speaker A:But I was thinking, like, how important that was to me.
Speaker A:And it was sort of making me think about the fact that I don't sort of use my handwriting and that my kids are growing up in a world where it's becoming less common to.
Speaker A:You know, everything's digital.
Speaker A:Obviously, it's clear.
Speaker A:Chatting to you how important handwriting and letter writing is.
Speaker A:What do you think we stand to lose as we move sort of more into a digital world?
Speaker B:You know, in some ways, I know that digital communication is almost more permanent.
Speaker B:You know, they say, like, don't type anything.
Speaker B:Don't send an email that you don't want to have in a newspaper someday, which I know that that's true, but I think what we cherish about a handwritten thing is that it's a treasure.
Speaker B:It's like a.
Speaker B:It's a.
Speaker B:It's only the.
Speaker B:Only one.
Speaker B:And it is.
Speaker B:It's mine.
Speaker B:Like, if you have that thing that you just showed me, that.
Speaker B:That photo with the inscription on the back, I mean, that's something that you.
Speaker B:It's only yours.
Speaker B:It's like a secret treasure or something.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And then I do think you're right.
Speaker B:When we unearth those things, it feels.
Speaker B:It just feels really.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:Special.
Speaker B:Feels like too simple or silly a word.
Speaker B:But I do think it.
Speaker B:It feels like a treasure.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:And I love to.
Speaker B:I love.
Speaker B:I think I love to collect.
Speaker B:You know, I love to have these little things.
Speaker B:And, you know, I.
Speaker B:It actually really grieves me to think.
Speaker B:There was an article I read recently that there's some.
Speaker B:I think there's.
Speaker B:Maybe it's Norway, but don't quote me on this, where they're doing away with their postal service because it's just not used.
Speaker B:And I was devastated.
Speaker B:I just was devastated because.
Speaker B:And with a letter.
Speaker B:Tell me, is there anything that is the same feeling as opening your mailbox and seeing a handwritten letter?
Speaker B:There's nothing.
Speaker B:There is no other feeling like that.
Speaker B:I don't think, in the world.
Speaker B:It's just this.
Speaker B:It's just this moment of where all these billions of people dispersed all over the earth, living in our spaces, and then something reaches you and it has your name and where you reside.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:It feels the connectivity of that and the time that it takes to.
Speaker B:For somebody to write it and put the stamp on it and give it to the post office or put it in the mailbox.
Speaker B:I don't even know that I quite can articulate it, but I.
Speaker B:But I know that the thought of it going away is.
Speaker B:Really grieves me, the thought that over the history of humankind, we communicate by writing to each other, writing letters and writing books.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:I mean, I think about the way that my upbringing with newspaper and letters and, you know, books and all those things is a very different world than what my children are experiencing with seeing the news on the phone.
Speaker B:Everything on the phone.
Speaker B:The phone, the phone.
Speaker B:And even, you know, about yesterday being in London.
Speaker B:Like, I have this phone, so I'm.
Speaker B:Sometimes I'm looking at the phone and I'm not seeing London for the first time, you know, because I have this phone that's distracting me.
Speaker B:And I'm receiving 50 communications through text and email and everything.
Speaker B:And there's.
Speaker B:There's something about the tactile world that.
Speaker B:That is connected to letter writing.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:There's not instant gratification.
Speaker B:You had to write a letter and then wait till it gets there and wait for a response and think and spend time and then keep it.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:Everything feels like nothing feels quite as sacred anymore.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I'm not really.
Speaker B:I'm not really giving you a answer, but those are my vague thoughts.
Speaker A:No, but that's what I was thinking, because my sister has got beautiful writing, and she does always really thoughtful cards and things.
Speaker A:And I was, like, thinking about it.
Speaker A:My kids, their grandparents send them postcards that are handwritten, but I was like, they don't get anything handwritten.
Speaker A:And I guess, I mean, for me, I was like, I'm gonna have to learn to embrace my story.
Speaker A:Scroll.
Speaker A:Yes, I think you should, because I won't.
Speaker A:I won't read a book electronically.
Speaker A:I have to have it in my hands like a copy.
Speaker A:So I was like, it's the same sort of thing, isn't it?
Speaker A:It's just, like, connection.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker A:So if you get a card from me, actually, and I have actually just posted a card to an author who I was chatting to recently, and I was thinking, I hope she can read it.
Speaker A:She's probably gonna be like, what is that?
Speaker B:Lean into it.
Speaker B:My mother has.
Speaker B:It's sort of like.
Speaker B:My mother's handwriting is sort of beautiful but very hard to read.
Speaker B:But she's really good about writing notes.
Speaker B:And she always had handwritten things all over the house.
Speaker B:And when I look at her handwriting now, I actually found in our piano bench, I have her.
Speaker B:The piano from when she was a child.
Speaker B:And I found in the piano bench some sheet music that she had written a note to her mother that said it was the backside and it said, I'm going to the store on my.
Speaker B:On my bike, I'll be back in an hour.
Speaker B:And I saved it because it's the same handwriting when she was 15 than it is now.
Speaker B:And it's really special.
Speaker B:And I love her handwriting.
Speaker B:Even though it's hard to read, I love it and I can decipher it.
Speaker B:So you should write notes to your children.
Speaker A:Not should.
Speaker B:You could.
Speaker B:And they cherish your handwriting.
Speaker A:They will be like, I'm sure it means something lovely.
Speaker A:But goodness knows what she was on.
Speaker B:About, what she was saying.
Speaker A:I have the saying.
Speaker A:So with my mum, I've got.
Speaker A:My grandmother had like a sort of household book, like, of recipes and all sorts, and the children had obviously written in that book as well.
Speaker A:So I've got.
Speaker A:My mum's writing for when she was little in there as well, which is really, really special.
Speaker A:So I was like, yeah, my kids are not gonna have anything, so I need to catch up.
Speaker A:Now they're 12.
Speaker B:You can just jot down some things and let them find it.
Speaker A:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker A:So before we move on and sort of close this part of our chat, there's one question which I feel that if Sybil were here, she would have to ask.
Speaker A:And that is, what are you reading at the moment?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, thank you.
Speaker B:I'm reading the Flat Share by Beth o'.
Speaker B:Leary.
Speaker A:Yeah, Okay.
Speaker B:I was wanting.
Speaker B:I always like.
Speaker B:If I'm traveling, I like to read where I'm going.
Speaker B:So I read right before I came.
Speaker B:I'm going to Oxford while I'm here.
Speaker B:So I read the Secret Book of Flora Lee, I think, which is.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I think she's.
Speaker B:She's an American author, but I read her book and then I.
Speaker B:Then my publicist in the uk, she said to read the Flat Chair, so I'm reading that and that is down there.
Speaker B:And then I also have.
Speaker B:I don't know where it is the Discovery of Witches for.
Speaker B:For Oxford, which is, I think, fun kind of fantasy.
Speaker B:But right now I'm in the middle of the flat chair and actually have been finding it a little like, there's that quickness of some of their.
Speaker B:They write notes to each other and I like that.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I love that.
Speaker A:On the plane going back, there's a TV series that.
Speaker A:I watched it actually, the Flatshare, when I went to the.
Speaker A:It is really good.
Speaker A:It's quite a good adaptation.
Speaker A:So, yeah, keep an eye out for that.
Speaker B:I will, yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:We're going to move on to talk about the five books that you have picked.
Speaker A:But just to remind listeners, they'll all be on the show.
Speaker A:Notes.
Speaker A:They'll be super easy for you to find.
Speaker A:How difficult was it for you then?
Speaker A:I almost felt like I should do, like, your version and a Sybil version.
Speaker A:How much crossover is that?
Speaker B:They probably would have had some similarities.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Was it easy for you, though, or.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:So hard.
Speaker B:I. I just have so many books that I have loved and that have shaped me, and they go in different directions.
Speaker B:And honestly, I've been.
Speaker B:A lot of times I.
Speaker B:When I've been interviewed, people ask me, so I've been trying to differentiate.
Speaker B:So, like, give some more.
Speaker B:Some different cast some other light on.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's so fun.
Speaker A:There's so many books that we want to.
Speaker A:To share the love.
Speaker A:So we're going to start with the first one.
Speaker A:I'm going to read these out to you as well.
Speaker A:So the first choice was Stoner by John Williams.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And so you just want me to talk a little bit about it?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Tell them why you picked it and why it's special to you.
Speaker B:That one is a book I read later, probably in my early 30s, and it was transformational for me and a lot of the inspiration for this story, in a way, because at the beginning of Stoner, there is a one paragraph on the first page, and it's his obituary and of the main character, and it says, you know, William Stoner was born in this town on this day.
Speaker B:He went to this school.
Speaker B:These were his parents.
Speaker B:He, you know, was in academia, married, had a daughter, died on this day.
Speaker B:That's the thing.
Speaker B:Then the rest of the book tells the story of his life.
Speaker B:And it is so stunning and the whole.
Speaker B:To me, what John Williams is saying in that book is.
Speaker B:Here's what we see, this paragraph, and.
Speaker B:And that's how I feel with Sybil.
Speaker B:You know, here's what you see.
Speaker B:This woman was born, lived, got married, had kids, whatever.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:But there's so much.
Speaker B:There's so much in the story.
Speaker B:And when you read the obituary at the beginning, you think, that's boring.
Speaker B:What a boring life.
Speaker B:You know, like, he didn't do anything.
Speaker B:He wasn't interesting.
Speaker B:Then you read the book and I. I don't remember another time finishing a book.
Speaker B:I had to lay down.
Speaker B:I remember the sun was coming in and I had to just lay down and cry because it was so.
Speaker B:So beautifully done.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:It's just the most beautiful.
Speaker B:It changed my life.
Speaker A:I'm gonna have to read that now when I Looked it up.
Speaker A:I was like, well, I'm not sure if that's one that I would fancy, but hearing you talk about it, actually, yeah, that sounds amazing.
Speaker A:So I loved it.
Speaker A:I'll have to have a look at that one.
Speaker A:Okay, next we've got the.
Speaker A:The Firm by John Grisham.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I had to add that because people ask me, what made you a reader?
Speaker B:And it was the Firm by John Grisham.
Speaker B:I think I read it too young.
Speaker B:I think I probably shouldn't have read it when I read it.
Speaker B:But we, you know, I had, you know, read some of.
Speaker B:I'd been reading, obviously.
Speaker B:I mean, I've been.
Speaker B:Always been a reader, but my parents had all these books, and my.
Speaker B:My parents.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I don't know which one of them, maybe both of them liked him.
Speaker B:And so they.
Speaker B:We had all of his books, and I think I probably read it.
Speaker B:And I mean, I don't want to say when I read it, because people might be like, you read that book in that age?
Speaker A:Oh, you have to tell us that.
Speaker B:Fifth grade.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't know what that is.
Speaker B:Oh, it's like 12, 11.
Speaker B:And, you know, the book is like, I don't know.
Speaker B:It's a very.
Speaker B:It's a great book.
Speaker B:It stands the test of time.
Speaker B:And that book really turned me into a reader, I think.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's so funny.
Speaker A:So my daughter is 12, she's going on 13, and she is desperate.
Speaker A:I mean, she reads a lot anyway, but she's desperate to read, like, an adult book.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:So she comes in and she browses my shelves.
Speaker A:And I said to her the other day, we were laughing last night because she said, do you just read smut?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:I was like, why do you think that?
Speaker A:She said, oh, because you keep saying that's not appropriate.
Speaker A:I was like, that's not what I was meaning.
Speaker A:I was like, I hope you're not going into school and saying, my mum.
Speaker B:Just reads smut and she has a podcast about it.
Speaker B:She talks about it.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:But she picked up a thriller.
Speaker A:And I was like, oh, that's not appropriate.
Speaker A:Because I was thinking, it's quite more.
Speaker A:There was an abusive relationship that was sort of like, you know, quite well hidden.
Speaker A:And I was like, oh, no, I don't think that's so.
Speaker A:Yeah, so maybe I'll give her the fan then.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But maybe look at it first.
Speaker B:I forget.
Speaker B:But it was.
Speaker B:It was really.
Speaker B:It just opened me to like, oh, books can be so, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's great.
Speaker A:When you have that, I love.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Okay, so we're going to move on to one which listeners are going to be surprised to know that I actually have now read this book.
Speaker A:Okay, so we've got Rebecca.
Speaker B:Oh, that's probably.
Speaker B:I mean, I would say that's in my top five favorite books of all time.
Speaker B:And reading that, I think I've read it three times now.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:That book is a book that showed me what I love.
Speaker B:And I think gothic, kind of smart, but eerie.
Speaker B:Not like.
Speaker B:Not sense, not sensational, but sort of that.
Speaker B:That nervousness of turning the pages.
Speaker B:I could read that book.
Speaker B:I could.
Speaker B:If I had to read one book over and over again for the rest of my life, I would pick Rebecca.
Speaker A:That's so interesting.
Speaker A:So normally I struggle with, like, classics.
Speaker A:And Susan Fletcher, who wrote the Night in Question, convinced me to read Jamaica Inn, which I really was expecting to struggle through, but I was, like, absolutely hooked.
Speaker A:It's so atmospheric and just gripping.
Speaker A:So I picked Rebecca for my book club, and I was like, some people were rereading it.
Speaker A:Some people were like, the same as me.
Speaker A:And we all loved it.
Speaker A:I was like, how have I gone through?
Speaker A:So I'm 48.
Speaker A:How have I not read this book yet?
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:Another one on that category that you might love is the Woman in White, which also looks totally daunting.
Speaker B:It's 600 pages.
Speaker B:The author's Wilkie Collins.
Speaker B:But it's the same thing.
Speaker B:Once you start, you can't stop.
Speaker B:You cannot stop.
Speaker A:Oh, I might have to add that actually that might be a good call for, like, October book club time.
Speaker A:Oh, good call.
Speaker A:And you managed to sneak another book in there.
Speaker A:Well done.
Speaker A:I noticed.
Speaker A:Okay, so now we've got One by one in the darkness.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Deirdre Madden is the author of that.
Speaker B:This is an Irish book.
Speaker B:She's a beloved author in Ireland, and she was the director of my master's program.
Speaker B:She was actually on sabbatical my year, but she was the director.
Speaker B:She's written many books, but that is my favorite.
Speaker B:It's about a family in Ireland.
Speaker B:And to me, it's similarly.
Speaker B:You can't stop turning the pages, but it's not.
Speaker B:It's not the way modern things are.
Speaker B:Page turners.
Speaker B:Something's happening on every page.
Speaker B:And so you're just kind of.
Speaker B:It's almost like eating dessert.
Speaker B:These books are not that.
Speaker B:It's like, Rebecca, you just can't stop.
Speaker B:And it also is something I read while I was living in Ireland.
Speaker B:It taught me so much about Irish history and culture and sort of mentality.
Speaker B:And I think she's just, I think she's, I think she's exceptional.
Speaker A:I hadn't seen this one before, and when I searched it, so my mum was Irish, so I've been trying to sort of read more and I was like this actually added it to my basket.
Speaker A:So I'm going to try and read that one soon.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I thought it sounded really, really good as well.
Speaker A:So I love that, that she was on your course as well.
Speaker A:That link, it's so nice.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And then I did think she'd be on the list.
Speaker A:Our final choice is the Dutch House.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker B:And I mean, I, not as a gimmick.
Speaker B:I, I love every book she's.
Speaker B:I've ever read of hers.
Speaker B:I love, I think she is a mastermind of smart literature that is enjoyable to read.
Speaker B:Some, some of the stuff that's you should read feels like, okay, I gotta read this.
Speaker B:You know, it feels like homework or an assignment, but I'm willing, I'm willing to do it.
Speaker B:But it doesn't feel.
Speaker B:But anytime I hear her book is coming out, I just can't wait.
Speaker B:The Dutch House is my favorite of her books.
Speaker B:Probably.
Speaker B:I, I, It's a little bit of a tough call, but I think it's probably my favorite.
Speaker B:And I think, you know, if, if there's a way I hope to write, it's that you write.
Speaker B:I want to be somebody who writes something smart and well done.
Speaker B:But also that feels so enjoyable to, to read.
Speaker B:I think the other person who does that is Maggie o'.
Speaker B:Farrell.
Speaker B:Those are my two.
Speaker B:And I was debating about whether to say a book by Ann or a book by Maggie, but I said a book by Maggie last time.
Speaker B:So I said, but if there's any.
Speaker B:I always, I'm always in my mind writing to Maggie and Anne.
Speaker B:Would they like this?
Speaker B:Would they, would they enjoy this?
Speaker A:That's kind of what's in my mind that's so interesting.
Speaker A:And actually both of them.
Speaker A:So the Dutch House was the first book by Ann Patrick that I read.
Speaker A:And then I think was it maybe the end of last year we read Bel Canto for my book club.
Speaker A:We were doing like band books as well.
Speaker A:And then I've been sort of working my way through, which is the one about the.
Speaker A:Is it State of Wonder?
Speaker A:That's Congo.
Speaker B:Yes, yes.
Speaker A:Oh, it was amazing.
Speaker A:So good.
Speaker A:And then Maggie o', Farrell, we've just read after you'd gone, and both of them are like, I'm so excited because I'VE still got books on my shelf to sort of go back and read.
Speaker A:So I feel really lucky that I'm late to the party because I can binge them.
Speaker B:You have so many to read.
Speaker B:It's so great.
Speaker A:Which, out of interest, which was your Maggie o'?
Speaker A:Farrell?
Speaker B:Well, I have.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:It's, it's like a little bit in debate, but my favorite, I think my favorite is this must be the place.
Speaker A:I haven't read that one.
Speaker B:You get another book.
Speaker A:That's really impressive.
Speaker A:Well done.
Speaker A:That was me being like, oh, I want more.
Speaker A:I want more.
Speaker B:You ask.
Speaker A:Such a little greedy.
Speaker A:Book, book hoarder.
Speaker A:So I think you've already answered it.
Speaker A:If you could only read one of those books again, which one would you choose?
Speaker A:Rebecca.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Well, I wouldn't let you go away with just Rebecca.
Speaker A:Obviously you could have all of them.
Speaker A:Oh, Virginia, it's been amazing.
Speaker A:I've loved chatting to you.
Speaker A:It's been so much fun.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me on and just for spreading the word about my book.
Speaker B:It means so much to me.
Speaker A:Oh, well, I hope everyone picks it up because it is amazing and I will be banging on about it, so please bang away.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker B:All right, take care.
Speaker B:Bye.
Speaker B:Bye.
Speaker A:Sometimes when I'm recording these episodes, I feel like I have just been sat with an old friend having a good old catch up, which is exactly how I felt with Virginia.
Speaker A:I loved hearing her talk about her writing journey.
Speaker A:Also, she gave us another reason to love Ann Patchett.
Speaker A:Not only does she write amazing books, but I think it's so lovely to hear how supportive she has been of Virginia's career.
Speaker A:Now, shortly after we recorded this episode, I got a beautiful handwritten card in the mail from Virginia.
Speaker A:And it made my day and also reminded me about my promise to try and embrace my terrible scrawl.
Speaker A:So I've been trying to go back to basics and reaching for the pen and paper a little bit more.
Speaker A:Apologies to anyone who's received a card from me which you're still trying to decipher.
Speaker A:The Correspondent is out now and it is a wonderful read.
Speaker A:I really think you'll love this one.
Speaker A:So please do pick it up and prepare to fall in love.
Speaker A:I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
Speaker A:I'll be back next week chatting to another author and I really hope that you'll join me for that episode too.
Speaker A:And in the meantime, if you're enjoying the show, please don't forget to rate, to review and subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker A:And most importantly, tell your friends all about it.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening and see you next week.
