The Correspondent is an epistolary novel by American author Virginia Evans. It was published on April 29, 2025 by Crown Publishing Group. The novel follows the letters and emails of a retired lawyer sent between 2012 and 2022. It is Evans' first published novel, after having completed seven unpublished novels. The novel was a slow-burn success, reaching the top of the New York Times' Fiction Best Seller List on February 1, 2026. It won a PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, and received widespread acclaim from critics. A film adaptation starring Jane Fonda was announced on March 18, 2026. Virginia Evans (born on June 2, 1986) is an American novelist. She received a Bachelor's degree in English literature from James Madison University. There she met her husband, Mark Evans. In 2019, she and her family moved from the United States to Dublin so that she could pursue a Master's degree in creative writing from Trinity College Dublin. She started writing The Correspondent after returning to the United States. She lives in Winston-Salem, NC and is married with two children. Before The Correspondent, Evans wrote seven unsuccessful books over 18 years, completing her first when she was 19. She wrote a self-published novel in 2019.