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Fonseca
The story acclaimed English author Penelope Fitzgerald never wrote, of her real-life journey to Mexico with her son in search of a much-needed inheritance, by Jessica Francis Kane, bestselling author of Rules for Visiting
Winter 1952. Penelope Fitzgerald’s husband is a struggling alcoholic, their literary journal is on the brink, and she is pregnant with their third child. Out of the blue she receives a letter from two spinster sisters named Delaney, distant relations with a silver mine, who dangle the possibility of an inheritance.
Jessica Francis Kane’s brilliantly imagined Fonseca fictionalizes Penelope’s real and momentous trip to northern Mexico in pursuit of this legacy, a creative and practical lifeline. She leaves her two-year-old, Tina, with relatives and sails for New York with her six-year-old, Valpy, in tow. From there, mother and son take a bus all the way to . . . Fonseca.
But when they arrive, nothing goes to plan. There are others vying for the Delaney money, and for three months, from Day of the Dead to Candlemas, Penelope must navigate a quixotic household and guide her impressionable son. More and more people an ambitious American couple, various local entrepreneurs and artists (including Edward Hopper and his wife, Jo), and finally a handsome stranger who claims he is a Delaney.
With heart, humor, and a deep understanding of her subject that has characterized the range of her work her whole career, Kane (whose work “could have been written by Jane Austen’s great great-great-granddaughter” —Oprah Daily) has written much more than an Fonseca is an enthralling world of its own as well as a stunning fictionalization of a season in Fitzgerald’s life.
Winter 1952. Penelope Fitzgerald’s husband is a struggling alcoholic, their literary journal is on the brink, and she is pregnant with their third child. Out of the blue she receives a letter from two spinster sisters named Delaney, distant relations with a silver mine, who dangle the possibility of an inheritance.
Jessica Francis Kane’s brilliantly imagined Fonseca fictionalizes Penelope’s real and momentous trip to northern Mexico in pursuit of this legacy, a creative and practical lifeline. She leaves her two-year-old, Tina, with relatives and sails for New York with her six-year-old, Valpy, in tow. From there, mother and son take a bus all the way to . . . Fonseca.
But when they arrive, nothing goes to plan. There are others vying for the Delaney money, and for three months, from Day of the Dead to Candlemas, Penelope must navigate a quixotic household and guide her impressionable son. More and more people an ambitious American couple, various local entrepreneurs and artists (including Edward Hopper and his wife, Jo), and finally a handsome stranger who claims he is a Delaney.
With heart, humor, and a deep understanding of her subject that has characterized the range of her work her whole career, Kane (whose work “could have been written by Jane Austen’s great great-great-granddaughter” —Oprah Daily) has written much more than an Fonseca is an enthralling world of its own as well as a stunning fictionalization of a season in Fitzgerald’s life.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published August 12, 2025
109 people are currently reading
6139 people want to read
About the author
Jessica Francis Kane
16 books371 followersJessica Francis Kane’s new novel, FONSECA, will be published by Penguin Press on August 12, 2025. It is based on the mysterious trip to northern Mexico made by English writer Penelope Fitzgerald in 1952 and took Kane eight years to write! It has been named a most-anticipated book of 2025 by the Los Angeles Times, LitHub, Publisher's Weekly and others.
Her previous novel, RULES FOR VISITING, was a 2019 Indie Next Pick and became a national bestseller. It was named one of the best books of the year by Oprah Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Vulture, The Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Southern Living, Real Simple, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. In the UK it was published by Granta Books and was a finalist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.
Her first novel, THE REPORT, was published by Graywolf Press in the US (2010) and Granta Books in the UK (2011). It was a finalist for the First Novel Prize from the Center for Fiction and a Barnes & Noble Discover pick. In 2015 it was adapted and staged as a play in New York City.
Her story collection, THIS CLOSE, was published by Graywolf Press in 2013. It was long-listed for The Story Prize, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize, and named a best book of the year by NPR.
Jessica’s stories and essays have appeared many places including, the New York Times, Slate, Virginia Quarterly Review, Zyzzyva, The Yale Review, A Public Space, and Granta. She is the recipient of fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
She lives in New York City and Connecticut.
Her previous novel, RULES FOR VISITING, was a 2019 Indie Next Pick and became a national bestseller. It was named one of the best books of the year by Oprah Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Vulture, The Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Southern Living, Real Simple, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. In the UK it was published by Granta Books and was a finalist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.
Her first novel, THE REPORT, was published by Graywolf Press in the US (2010) and Granta Books in the UK (2011). It was a finalist for the First Novel Prize from the Center for Fiction and a Barnes & Noble Discover pick. In 2015 it was adapted and staged as a play in New York City.
Her story collection, THIS CLOSE, was published by Graywolf Press in 2013. It was long-listed for The Story Prize, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize, and named a best book of the year by NPR.
Jessica’s stories and essays have appeared many places including, the New York Times, Slate, Virginia Quarterly Review, Zyzzyva, The Yale Review, A Public Space, and Granta. She is the recipient of fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
She lives in New York City and Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
April 12, 2025
I loved writing this book!
September 8, 2025
The Delaneys invite Penelope Fitzgerald and her son Valpy from England to Mirando, a faded estate in Fonseca, Mexico. They arrive by ship from Liverpool in 1952, greeted on the Day of the Dead with “whiskey marigolds,” an upright Bechstein played by Mr. Tuttle, and a parrot that shouts “Jaas-per” as if calling to itself across the garden. The hired boy echoes the cry, a comic duet of man and bird.
From the first pages Kane makes a theme of doubleness, writing that Fonseca meant “two cultures watching each other.” The visitors are amused and unsettled by rituals such as queso fundido, called “the dinner of revolutionaries,” and by the Rosca de reyes with a hidden prize that makes eating into a gamble. Penelope writes letters about Las Posadas and a nativity play so earnest it teeters into farce.
The texture of travel fills every scene: the boy tastes apple churros at the plaza, glimpses a suffering donkey at the market, and stares wide-eyed at a room filled with stuffed birds, “a museum of feathers that refused to fly.”
The plot moves in episodes that mark both family inheritance and cultural bewilderment. Ernest Delaney sends a postcard declaring, “Exits are the hardest part. I will never forget Fonseca.” Chela orchestrates meals as if hosting a revolution and the Doñas remind guests of vanished Irish relations while passing on heirlooms with stories attached. Valpy composes a letter explaining that the family once traveled instead to the Purcells in Saltillo, a sly metafictional twist that casts doubt on every recollection. The household plays music and serves liquor, yet an undertone of exhaustion courses through their gatherings.
Kane has a gift for detail, which are staged like a play where both actors and props threaten to desert their roles. The line “Fonseca means two cultures watching each other” applies equally to every exchange of glance, gesture, and story across tables where queso melts faster than alliances.
Reading this novel I thought often of Henry James, since Jessica Francis Kane thrives on the comedy and melancholy of cultural displacement. The English mother and son carry their habits like baggage, and Mexico greets them with both warmth and indifference. The book works as allegory for travel as performance, for hospitality as theater, and for memory as unreliable architect of family myth.
Its surprises accumulate: an apple churro becomes as memorable as a violin passage, a donkey at the market stares like an oracle, and a postcard from Ernest hangs over the tale as both farewell and curse. Kane’s style balances irony with elegance, giving each object and gesture the weight of metaphor.
The reader exits with a question mark rather than a period, for the story ends on thresholds that never close. Travel is inheritance, inheritance is theater, and theater is truth delivered with a crooked smile. I was truly hoping for a deeper, more exciting plot. I had fun, enjoyed the excellent writing, but felt, thought, and learned very little. 2.5 🌟
From the first pages Kane makes a theme of doubleness, writing that Fonseca meant “two cultures watching each other.” The visitors are amused and unsettled by rituals such as queso fundido, called “the dinner of revolutionaries,” and by the Rosca de reyes with a hidden prize that makes eating into a gamble. Penelope writes letters about Las Posadas and a nativity play so earnest it teeters into farce.
The texture of travel fills every scene: the boy tastes apple churros at the plaza, glimpses a suffering donkey at the market, and stares wide-eyed at a room filled with stuffed birds, “a museum of feathers that refused to fly.”
The plot moves in episodes that mark both family inheritance and cultural bewilderment. Ernest Delaney sends a postcard declaring, “Exits are the hardest part. I will never forget Fonseca.” Chela orchestrates meals as if hosting a revolution and the Doñas remind guests of vanished Irish relations while passing on heirlooms with stories attached. Valpy composes a letter explaining that the family once traveled instead to the Purcells in Saltillo, a sly metafictional twist that casts doubt on every recollection. The household plays music and serves liquor, yet an undertone of exhaustion courses through their gatherings.
Kane has a gift for detail, which are staged like a play where both actors and props threaten to desert their roles. The line “Fonseca means two cultures watching each other” applies equally to every exchange of glance, gesture, and story across tables where queso melts faster than alliances.
Reading this novel I thought often of Henry James, since Jessica Francis Kane thrives on the comedy and melancholy of cultural displacement. The English mother and son carry their habits like baggage, and Mexico greets them with both warmth and indifference. The book works as allegory for travel as performance, for hospitality as theater, and for memory as unreliable architect of family myth.
Its surprises accumulate: an apple churro becomes as memorable as a violin passage, a donkey at the market stares like an oracle, and a postcard from Ernest hangs over the tale as both farewell and curse. Kane’s style balances irony with elegance, giving each object and gesture the weight of metaphor.
The reader exits with a question mark rather than a period, for the story ends on thresholds that never close. Travel is inheritance, inheritance is theater, and theater is truth delivered with a crooked smile. I was truly hoping for a deeper, more exciting plot. I had fun, enjoyed the excellent writing, but felt, thought, and learned very little. 2.5 🌟
August 29, 2025
I really love this author, she wrote Rules For Visiting, one of my favorites, so of course I wanted to read this as soon as it came out. The flip side of that is that this is a fictional account of a trip to Mexico with her 6 year old son made by Penelope Fitzgerald in 1953. I have read two of Fitzgerald's books and am not a fan. I know she is celebrated and won the Booker Prize for Offshore, her memoir of living on a houseboat, but she and I just don't connect.
This book was fascinating in many ways because of it's premise. Two elderly spinster sisters with a vague family connection wanted to get to know her son who might be in line for an inheritance. She left her husband and 2 year old daughter behind in England to go Mexico, but discovered when she got there that it was an audition of sorts, with at least 10 others vying for the same inheritance. The old house is Gothic, the sisters are strange, and the only one in the house who knows what's going on is the cook and housekeeper, who seems to have magical powers and knowledge. She ended up staying for 4 months.
They meet Edward Hopper and his wife, who rent a neighboring house. Six year old Valpy is loved by everyone as he seems older than his years, and is thoughtful and perceptive. Some of the other contenders are delightful, others are backstabbing. This trip was never written about or alluded to by Fitzgerald in her writing, but Kane did a lot of research, and includes emails to Kane from Valpy himself and also the daughter left behind in response to her questions.
Kane did a good job of uncovering as many facts as she could to write this story, but again, I failed to warm up to the fictional Fitzgerald, any more that I did the real author.
This book was fascinating in many ways because of it's premise. Two elderly spinster sisters with a vague family connection wanted to get to know her son who might be in line for an inheritance. She left her husband and 2 year old daughter behind in England to go Mexico, but discovered when she got there that it was an audition of sorts, with at least 10 others vying for the same inheritance. The old house is Gothic, the sisters are strange, and the only one in the house who knows what's going on is the cook and housekeeper, who seems to have magical powers and knowledge. She ended up staying for 4 months.
They meet Edward Hopper and his wife, who rent a neighboring house. Six year old Valpy is loved by everyone as he seems older than his years, and is thoughtful and perceptive. Some of the other contenders are delightful, others are backstabbing. This trip was never written about or alluded to by Fitzgerald in her writing, but Kane did a lot of research, and includes emails to Kane from Valpy himself and also the daughter left behind in response to her questions.
Kane did a good job of uncovering as many facts as she could to write this story, but again, I failed to warm up to the fictional Fitzgerald, any more that I did the real author.
March 6, 2025
I loved this novel. The author perfectly captures Mexico in the 1950's. The story is about the writer Penelope Fitzgerald"s trip to Mexico with her six year old son Valpy. In deep financial trouble she hopes to receive a legacy from two old women who are without an heir and curiously invite Fitzgerald to Fonseca Mexico. The trip is a desperate act, pregnant, she leaves behind her three year old daughter and alcoholic husband.
There is a cast of interesting characters, some with an eye on the legacy others are workers and members of the community. The artist Edward Hooper and his wife Jo have a cameo.
The characters are wonderful and the structure is interesting with letters written by Fitzgerald's children punctuating the engaging story.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.
There is a cast of interesting characters, some with an eye on the legacy others are workers and members of the community. The artist Edward Hooper and his wife Jo have a cameo.
The characters are wonderful and the structure is interesting with letters written by Fitzgerald's children punctuating the engaging story.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.
August 17, 2025
In 1952, Penelope Fitzgerald was experiencing hard times. She was overwhelmed with domestic duties, pregnant with her third young child, burdened by an alcoholic husband suffering from what we now call PTSD, and shepherding an ailing literary magazine on the verge of financial collapse. One can certainly understand why she may have needed a temporary change of scene. With her young son in tow, she left her home, husband and infant daughter for the tiny Mexican village of Saltillo. She spent 3 months there but never wrote much about the whys and wherefores of the visit. Building on the relevant scraps left behind by Fitzgerald, Kane reimagines her sanctuary as a magical oasis she facetiously renames Fonseca, a term roughly translated as “dry well.”
The plot involves a couple of wealthy dowagers who may have had some obscure relationship to Penelope. So why not take a vacation from her troubles in England and see if there might be a legacy in Mexico? Instead of money, what she finds there is a magical and life altering experience. The place is a dilapidated manse called Mirando and the dowagers are a couple of alcoholic and excentric seniors who appear to be dangling their silver mining fortune in front of just about everyone in their village. They entertain the “pretenders” with a daily drink-fest. Penelope lists the members of this eclectic group of fortune seekers by their potential uses for the money. Along with the unconventional competition, she finds romance, friendship (some nastiness), and especially a new self-image as an author. Moreover, her son blossoms in this totally new environment. He experiences a new language, newfound freedom and a strange new religion at the hands of the household help, the nuns at his school and the neighborhood boys.
Much like her protagonist, Kane writes with delicacy about religion, class and human foibles. You will find FONSECA satisfying if you like character-driven stories, literary history, and atmospherics. However, you should be open to a sedate pace. Slow down and savor the subtleties. Kane is an astute observer of her setting and characters, especially her protagonist. Her intention is to blend the genres of fiction, history and biography, which she achieves remarkably well.
The plot involves a couple of wealthy dowagers who may have had some obscure relationship to Penelope. So why not take a vacation from her troubles in England and see if there might be a legacy in Mexico? Instead of money, what she finds there is a magical and life altering experience. The place is a dilapidated manse called Mirando and the dowagers are a couple of alcoholic and excentric seniors who appear to be dangling their silver mining fortune in front of just about everyone in their village. They entertain the “pretenders” with a daily drink-fest. Penelope lists the members of this eclectic group of fortune seekers by their potential uses for the money. Along with the unconventional competition, she finds romance, friendship (some nastiness), and especially a new self-image as an author. Moreover, her son blossoms in this totally new environment. He experiences a new language, newfound freedom and a strange new religion at the hands of the household help, the nuns at his school and the neighborhood boys.
Much like her protagonist, Kane writes with delicacy about religion, class and human foibles. You will find FONSECA satisfying if you like character-driven stories, literary history, and atmospherics. However, you should be open to a sedate pace. Slow down and savor the subtleties. Kane is an astute observer of her setting and characters, especially her protagonist. Her intention is to blend the genres of fiction, history and biography, which she achieves remarkably well.
March 9, 2025
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Press for the ebook. A wonderful novel about the author Penelope Fitzgerald, set in a small town in Mexico in 1952, when she and her husband were running a struggling literary magazine back home. Penelope has come with her young son, Valpy, two see if two older women, with a slight connection to Penelope, might want to give her son part of their fortune. She makes the difficult trip from England, only to find that there are several other people vying for this money. There’s even the appearance of Edward Hopper and his wife staying nearby. A fun tale of saints and vipers who orbit this small world.
August 22, 2025
Book Report: Fonseca
4.5 ⭐️
At First Glance: I have to admit… the cover got me. Stunning!
The Gist: The story acclaimed English author Penelope Fitzgerald never wrote, of her real-life journey to Mexico with her son in search of a much-needed inheritance.
My Thoughts: I feel like I’m letting the literary gods down when I say my knowledge of Penelope Fitzgerald stems from a Parnassus Friday New to You reel and now Fonseca by Jessica Francis Kane, who upon finishing is now on my radar to read more from. Fonseca was a beautiful, immersive read that will transport you to a quirky household filled with others vying for an inheritance, endless evenings with cocktails and an unexpected charming heir. From the elderly ladies, the staff and Penelope’s exploration of the town and local customs this book captured my attention. The authors note is not to be missed, letting the reader know that real letters from Fitzgeralds children were slotted throughout the book.
A question for Jessica: To a Penelope Fitzgerald newbie where should I start?…or what’s your favorite?
Thank you Penguin Press for sending me a copy!
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Lyon.brit.A...
4.5 ⭐️
At First Glance: I have to admit… the cover got me. Stunning!
The Gist: The story acclaimed English author Penelope Fitzgerald never wrote, of her real-life journey to Mexico with her son in search of a much-needed inheritance.
My Thoughts: I feel like I’m letting the literary gods down when I say my knowledge of Penelope Fitzgerald stems from a Parnassus Friday New to You reel and now Fonseca by Jessica Francis Kane, who upon finishing is now on my radar to read more from. Fonseca was a beautiful, immersive read that will transport you to a quirky household filled with others vying for an inheritance, endless evenings with cocktails and an unexpected charming heir. From the elderly ladies, the staff and Penelope’s exploration of the town and local customs this book captured my attention. The authors note is not to be missed, letting the reader know that real letters from Fitzgeralds children were slotted throughout the book.
A question for Jessica: To a Penelope Fitzgerald newbie where should I start?…or what’s your favorite?
Thank you Penguin Press for sending me a copy!
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Lyon.brit.A...
August 26, 2025
Penelope Fitzgerald takes her son, Valpy, from the UK to Northern Mexico, to a secret location that doesn’t exist on a map. Fonseca is the home of two wealthy, elderly, and single women, the Delaney sisters. The women constantly host extravagant dinners, which friends and acquaintances happily attend because of the social scene and flowing booze; more pertinently, the question regarding who inherits the Delaney women’s money keeps the folks around. Fitzgerald lives on the Delaney property for this reason: their family faces financial trouble, and receiving monetary help could save them from ruin. Throughout the novel, the author inserts her correspondence with the adult Fitzgerald children, and these letters briefly offer a different narrator’s perspective from Penelope’s main storytelling during their stay in Mexico.
I appreciate Kane’s imaginative goal in theory, but I never quite immersed myself in the story. The details about wingback chairs, for example, seemed to lean more heavily on the telling side of writing. I wondered whether my general preference for non-historical fiction books affects my reading, and it could be true. However, I wanted to know Fitzgerald and Valpy better, rather than their financial troubles as such.
My thanks to Penguin Press and NetGalley for an ARC.
I appreciate Kane’s imaginative goal in theory, but I never quite immersed myself in the story. The details about wingback chairs, for example, seemed to lean more heavily on the telling side of writing. I wondered whether my general preference for non-historical fiction books affects my reading, and it could be true. However, I wanted to know Fitzgerald and Valpy better, rather than their financial troubles as such.
My thanks to Penguin Press and NetGalley for an ARC.
February 15, 2025
This was a wonderful read. Kane wrote this in a way that I haven't read before and I really enjoyed it. Mixing in tidbits of letters from the subjects children and comparing them to the novelization was wonderful! I look forward to picking up a finished copy when it comes out in August!
August 18, 2025
I’d give the audio narration 10 stars if I could.
September 3, 2025
In 1952, Penelope makes an onerous journey from England to Mexico with her six-year-old son, leaving behind her husband and small daughter for an unknown number of months, in hopes that this extreme venture will pay off financially. Penelope and young Valpy have been invited to Mexico by two elderly widows with a distant connection to her family who suggest that perhaps they will leave their considerable fortune to the boy. With the money, Penelope and her husband could escape a life of poverty, continue funding the prestigious yet struggling literary magazine they edit together, and perhaps stop him drinking away their meager income. When Penelope and Valpy arrive in Fonseca, they discover the widows are also heavy drinkers who show little interest in their invited guests. The mansion is filled with a motley collection of other visitors, all apparently there attempting to win the inheritance for themselves.
I loved reading this story of a character who finds herself in a strange situation and observes it with a writer's eye. Kane conveys Penelope's perspective with a wonderful dry humor and crafts a compelling drama among the characters thrown together in Fonseca. What adds a fascinating layer to the novel is that it's based on truth: Penelope Fitzgerald was a real, acclaimed writer, and she actually made this trip to Mexico with her son, though the circumstances surrounding it are unclear, even to the family. Kane started with details from a 1980 Fitzgerald essay that alludes to the trip, and Fitzgerald's children provided some additional insights, but most of the novel is delightfully imagined fiction. I wasn't familiar with Penelope Fitzgerald before this, but I'll be checking out her work now, and I'll continue looking forward to Kane's stories.
I loved reading this story of a character who finds herself in a strange situation and observes it with a writer's eye. Kane conveys Penelope's perspective with a wonderful dry humor and crafts a compelling drama among the characters thrown together in Fonseca. What adds a fascinating layer to the novel is that it's based on truth: Penelope Fitzgerald was a real, acclaimed writer, and she actually made this trip to Mexico with her son, though the circumstances surrounding it are unclear, even to the family. Kane started with details from a 1980 Fitzgerald essay that alludes to the trip, and Fitzgerald's children provided some additional insights, but most of the novel is delightfully imagined fiction. I wasn't familiar with Penelope Fitzgerald before this, but I'll be checking out her work now, and I'll continue looking forward to Kane's stories.
September 8, 2025
4.5/5 - A creative and beautiful imagining of a story left untold.
I am a lover of all stories that speak to the ever-persistent and mundane nature of being changed by the people around us, seeing change in the people we come to care for, and mourning so deeply what simply is a life that, for whatever reason, isn't meant to be ours. It is a disheartening but almost certain part of our lives, one that I, for better or for worse, have decided to embrace in the art I appreciate rather than fight as I used to—we've all once desired longevity from something meant to be fleeting.
This story was a wonderful interpretation of such, handled with tact. I know very little of the history of Penelope Fitzgerald's visit to Saltillo (Fonseca), but after reading this book, I felt no desire to do further research (though the Author's Note was incredibly informative) because I felt the story perfect as written. It took me a bit to become acquainted with the rhythm of it—little details are mentioned far before being explained and are often referenced once forgotten, though it helped to make timelines and notes as I went. The small insights into the lives of Fonseca's characters, the magnification of short interactions between them, as well as the detailing of the setting, built the world around them so richly. It was a pleasure to follow Penelope and Valpy and I found myself wishing that I could get to know them more.
An incredibly unique story, made even more special with the author's connection to it. Much like our two main characters, mother and son, I, too, felt changed in some small, magical way.
I am a lover of all stories that speak to the ever-persistent and mundane nature of being changed by the people around us, seeing change in the people we come to care for, and mourning so deeply what simply is a life that, for whatever reason, isn't meant to be ours. It is a disheartening but almost certain part of our lives, one that I, for better or for worse, have decided to embrace in the art I appreciate rather than fight as I used to—we've all once desired longevity from something meant to be fleeting.
This story was a wonderful interpretation of such, handled with tact. I know very little of the history of Penelope Fitzgerald's visit to Saltillo (Fonseca), but after reading this book, I felt no desire to do further research (though the Author's Note was incredibly informative) because I felt the story perfect as written. It took me a bit to become acquainted with the rhythm of it—little details are mentioned far before being explained and are often referenced once forgotten, though it helped to make timelines and notes as I went. The small insights into the lives of Fonseca's characters, the magnification of short interactions between them, as well as the detailing of the setting, built the world around them so richly. It was a pleasure to follow Penelope and Valpy and I found myself wishing that I could get to know them more.
An incredibly unique story, made even more special with the author's connection to it. Much like our two main characters, mother and son, I, too, felt changed in some small, magical way.
August 11, 2025
4.5 stars
Fonseca is a weird and wonderful novel filling in fictional gaps from a real life trip taken by Penelope Fitzgerald to Mexico in the 1950s.
What I loved most about this book was the witty writing. I laughed out loud at several moments, which I never normally do. Whether it's because the author has read and loved Fitzgerald's works for years, or because she's an excellent writer (a mix of the two I think), Penelope and Valpy appeared so real and multi-dimensional. I found myself thinking of the book when I wasn't reading it.
While fictionalised, I thought the inclusion of the Hoppers was genius. I can imagine it's a huge task to take real lives and fictionalise sections of them, but I can see this was done with care and sincerity. I thought it was interesting to include real letters from Penelope's children sent to the author, and maybe knowing they approved of the book allowed me to enjoy it all the more.
*thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the arc
Fonseca is a weird and wonderful novel filling in fictional gaps from a real life trip taken by Penelope Fitzgerald to Mexico in the 1950s.
What I loved most about this book was the witty writing. I laughed out loud at several moments, which I never normally do. Whether it's because the author has read and loved Fitzgerald's works for years, or because she's an excellent writer (a mix of the two I think), Penelope and Valpy appeared so real and multi-dimensional. I found myself thinking of the book when I wasn't reading it.
While fictionalised, I thought the inclusion of the Hoppers was genius. I can imagine it's a huge task to take real lives and fictionalise sections of them, but I can see this was done with care and sincerity. I thought it was interesting to include real letters from Penelope's children sent to the author, and maybe knowing they approved of the book allowed me to enjoy it all the more.
*thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the arc
August 27, 2025
The braiding of fiction with memories and truth is a delicate balance beautifully drawn. Such a beautiful depiction of a difficult personal time but drawn in an evocative manner. I have not read any Penelope Fitzgerald but am heading straight to the library to get some.
I loved the relationship between Penelope and Volpy and Chella and the portrayal of the disguised battle for the legacy money from borracho women. A villain is still a villain whether with a black hat and handlebar mustache or a rich conniving social climber. Also loved the intertwining of the Hoppers in this wonderful novel.
I loved the relationship between Penelope and Volpy and Chella and the portrayal of the disguised battle for the legacy money from borracho women. A villain is still a villain whether with a black hat and handlebar mustache or a rich conniving social climber. Also loved the intertwining of the Hoppers in this wonderful novel.
September 1, 2025
3.5 This book is the inaugural selection for the new book club at our downtown bookstore. It is getting a lot of buzz in the LitFic circles. Historical fiction. I am not familiar with Penelope Fitzgerald (the author on whom this book is based), so I was happy to learn about her and am now planning to read some of her work, so the selection is a win on that score. The author does a nice job of containing the story to one time period in Fitzgerald’s life about which little is known, and she incorporates correspondence with Fitzgerald’s surviving children, which is an interesting epistolary element. Overall, the book was a little too quiet for me, but I am interested in what will come of our book club discussion.
September 1, 2025
Meh…for me
August 22, 2025
Charming, quiet, character-driven, memorable.
August 2, 2025
In her new book, Jessica Francis Kane takes several months from the life of Penelope Fitzgerald and weaves them into the kind of novel Penelope Fitzgerald might have written herself. As you may recall, Penelope Fitzgerald is the author The Bookshop, which was made into a movie, and Offshore, which won the Booker Prize – and a lot more.
Fonseca charts a time in Fitzgerald’s life when she had two small children and another on the way. She and her husband Desmond were living beyond their means, editing a literary magazine which was yet to make their fortune, and hampered by Desmond’s drinking problem. We’re in that post-war period, the early 1950s, and the war has taken its toll on Desmond, and so the two are keen to make a go of their literary review. But the bank manager has his concerns, and the family is likely to lose their home.
Penelope learns of a couple of elderly women sitting on the proceeds of a silver mine in Mexico, former friends of her late mother’s, when one contacts Fitzgerald with the news that they have nobody to leave their money to. Why doesn’t she send her boy Valpy to stay for a while to see how they get on? It’s a long journey by sea and bus and things are different from what they expect when they arrive.
The women expect an older boy and they don’t expect Fitzgerald to have tagged along. Fitzgerald discovers there are other people hovering, dropping in for evening drinks each night, who hope to get something too. There’s a lot of drinking, and the nights are cold. Penelope sleeps on a couch so her son can have the bed, and there’s no chair with the desk where she hopes to work. Somehow she and Valpy manage to stay three months as Christmas approaches and the weather becomes colder than what they have packed for.
Jessica Francis Kane brings to life this quirky household – the tricky old women, the staff who can be difficult to communicate with. Over time, Penelope explores the area, meets people – mostly, but not only, expats – and learns about local customs. Valpy is a bright boy for his age and delightful. There are misunderstandings and superstitions that put a spanner in the works of Penelope’s best intentions.
Apart from the possibility of money, the time away gives Penelope time to consider her marriage, particularly when another potential heir arrives, “the Delaney”, who is charming, adding another strand to the story. You also get the feeling that she might be incubating the stories that will later make her name.
Jessica Francis Kane has obviously done more than simply research Penelope Fitzgerald’s life and the period she spent in Mexico. You get the feeling that she has lived with and loved Fitzgerald’s literature for a long time. Probably no one else could have written this book. I suddenly want to read and reread more by Fitzgerald. Altogether, Fonseca is a brilliant read – clever, well written and with fascinating characters. A five-star read from me.
I received Fonseca as a reader’s copy from Netgally. The book is due to be released on 12 August.
Fonseca charts a time in Fitzgerald’s life when she had two small children and another on the way. She and her husband Desmond were living beyond their means, editing a literary magazine which was yet to make their fortune, and hampered by Desmond’s drinking problem. We’re in that post-war period, the early 1950s, and the war has taken its toll on Desmond, and so the two are keen to make a go of their literary review. But the bank manager has his concerns, and the family is likely to lose their home.
Penelope learns of a couple of elderly women sitting on the proceeds of a silver mine in Mexico, former friends of her late mother’s, when one contacts Fitzgerald with the news that they have nobody to leave their money to. Why doesn’t she send her boy Valpy to stay for a while to see how they get on? It’s a long journey by sea and bus and things are different from what they expect when they arrive.
The women expect an older boy and they don’t expect Fitzgerald to have tagged along. Fitzgerald discovers there are other people hovering, dropping in for evening drinks each night, who hope to get something too. There’s a lot of drinking, and the nights are cold. Penelope sleeps on a couch so her son can have the bed, and there’s no chair with the desk where she hopes to work. Somehow she and Valpy manage to stay three months as Christmas approaches and the weather becomes colder than what they have packed for.
Jessica Francis Kane brings to life this quirky household – the tricky old women, the staff who can be difficult to communicate with. Over time, Penelope explores the area, meets people – mostly, but not only, expats – and learns about local customs. Valpy is a bright boy for his age and delightful. There are misunderstandings and superstitions that put a spanner in the works of Penelope’s best intentions.
Apart from the possibility of money, the time away gives Penelope time to consider her marriage, particularly when another potential heir arrives, “the Delaney”, who is charming, adding another strand to the story. You also get the feeling that she might be incubating the stories that will later make her name.
Jessica Francis Kane has obviously done more than simply research Penelope Fitzgerald’s life and the period she spent in Mexico. You get the feeling that she has lived with and loved Fitzgerald’s literature for a long time. Probably no one else could have written this book. I suddenly want to read and reread more by Fitzgerald. Altogether, Fonseca is a brilliant read – clever, well written and with fascinating characters. A five-star read from me.
I received Fonseca as a reader’s copy from Netgally. The book is due to be released on 12 August.
September 4, 2025
This is one of those quiet books that sneaks up on you and before you know it, you’re sad when it’s over. I’m so glad I came across it!
“I’m reminded of that old idea that there are only two kinds of stories: someone goes on a journey and a stranger comes to town. It seems you are living both. Isn’t that remarkable.”
In 1952, the English writer Penelope Fitzgerald receives a letter from two elderly sisters, who apparently are distant relatives. The sisters have a sizable fortune thanks to a Mexican silver mine, and suggest that there might be an inheritance in store. They invite Penelope and her young son, Valpy, to their home in Northern Mexico.
While traveling from England to Mexico in the 1950s is a complicated and arduous journey, the invitation couldn’t have come at a better time. The literary magazine that she and her husband Desmond publish is on the verge of folding, their financial situation is precarious, and his drinking is getting more out of control. An inheritance could be life-changing.
Leaving her young daughter and husband behind, Penelope and six-year-old Valpy head to Mexico. Yet when they arrive, they discover that all is not what they expected. The Delaney sisters are mercurial (especially when drinking), and there seems to be a growing number of people who also have designs on the money. Penelope will have to deal with the machinations of others as well as her worries about her marriage, her children, and their future if the inheritance doesn’t materialize.
This is based on a real trip that Fitzgerald took, which she then fictionalized a bit. The narrative is intercut with excerpts of letters from Fitzgerald’s real children. I hadn’t heard of Fitzgerald before, but this story really captivated me.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.
“I’m reminded of that old idea that there are only two kinds of stories: someone goes on a journey and a stranger comes to town. It seems you are living both. Isn’t that remarkable.”
In 1952, the English writer Penelope Fitzgerald receives a letter from two elderly sisters, who apparently are distant relatives. The sisters have a sizable fortune thanks to a Mexican silver mine, and suggest that there might be an inheritance in store. They invite Penelope and her young son, Valpy, to their home in Northern Mexico.
While traveling from England to Mexico in the 1950s is a complicated and arduous journey, the invitation couldn’t have come at a better time. The literary magazine that she and her husband Desmond publish is on the verge of folding, their financial situation is precarious, and his drinking is getting more out of control. An inheritance could be life-changing.
Leaving her young daughter and husband behind, Penelope and six-year-old Valpy head to Mexico. Yet when they arrive, they discover that all is not what they expected. The Delaney sisters are mercurial (especially when drinking), and there seems to be a growing number of people who also have designs on the money. Penelope will have to deal with the machinations of others as well as her worries about her marriage, her children, and their future if the inheritance doesn’t materialize.
This is based on a real trip that Fitzgerald took, which she then fictionalized a bit. The narrative is intercut with excerpts of letters from Fitzgerald’s real children. I hadn’t heard of Fitzgerald before, but this story really captivated me.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.
August 27, 2025
This is a quietly fascinating novel--restrained, tentative because the main character wonders exactly how she finds herself in this position, but feeling its way forward and pulling readers along. It is historical fiction about the trip novelist Penelope Fitzgerald took to Mexico in the 1950s with her six-year-old son Valpy to hopefully claim an inheritance. Fitzgerald is not yet a novelist (she's the mother of two and pregnant again, with a husband who can't cope with his drinking or his war trauma, co-editor of a literary magazine, and desperate for money); she is a person who is very good at making things work, but is facing an impossible amount. And the community she finds in Mexico is not anything anyone would expect. Each character is sketched in effectively, with the same surprise and detachment Fitzgerald would show in her latter novels. This is a book about growing into yourself and your writing (and also the desperation, financial or otherwise, that pushes people into making art). It fascinatingly moves between fiction and nonfiction, including excerpts from letters from Fitzgerald's children (including Valpy). Like Fitzgerald's own fiction, it is difficult to pin down and completely its own thing. I loved it, and it immediately made me turn back to Fitzgerald's own novels with new interest.
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my free earc in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my free earc in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.
March 29, 2025
A wonderful read; rich, thoughtful, deep and completely gripping.
It's based on a real event with some novelistic twists. The writer Penelope Fitzgerald and her husband are struggling to establish their literary magazine. A number of the lit luminaries of the early 1950s are writing for them, but they're not getting traction. They have two small children and are madly downsizing to survive when Penelope receives two letters from the Delaney sisters, elderly Irish-Mexicans who believe there is a connection between their families and who are looking for an heir. Would Penelope send her son to them so they can meet? Penelope explains that her son is only six. The sisters invite her as well.
Fonseca is home to an Irish Mexican community, many of whom are descendants of the San Patricios, Irish soldiers in the US army who defected to Mexico during the Mexican American War. When Penelope and her son, the delightful Valpy, finally arrive, they find . . . you have to read Fonseca to discover what.
The characterizations are lovely and the descriptions of 1952 Mexico are spot on. Fonseca is a marvelous novel.
Thank you to Netgalley for the digital review copy. All opinions are my own.
It's based on a real event with some novelistic twists. The writer Penelope Fitzgerald and her husband are struggling to establish their literary magazine. A number of the lit luminaries of the early 1950s are writing for them, but they're not getting traction. They have two small children and are madly downsizing to survive when Penelope receives two letters from the Delaney sisters, elderly Irish-Mexicans who believe there is a connection between their families and who are looking for an heir. Would Penelope send her son to them so they can meet? Penelope explains that her son is only six. The sisters invite her as well.
Fonseca is home to an Irish Mexican community, many of whom are descendants of the San Patricios, Irish soldiers in the US army who defected to Mexico during the Mexican American War. When Penelope and her son, the delightful Valpy, finally arrive, they find . . . you have to read Fonseca to discover what.
The characterizations are lovely and the descriptions of 1952 Mexico are spot on. Fonseca is a marvelous novel.
Thank you to Netgalley for the digital review copy. All opinions are my own.
August 17, 2025
Jessica Francis Kane's books have a way of sneaking up on me. They begin in a way that seem quiet, mannered and then building, until I am enthralled in the story. In this case, it's a fictional account of a trip that writer Penelope Fitzgerald took with her six year old son Valpy to a home in Fonseca, in Mexico, where two eldery Irish woman have invited them, teasing that their might be.a legacy awaiting her son.
The house turns out to be full of people, competing for this legacy, which may or may not even exist. And there is the question of the husband and small child Tina Penelope has left behind, the desperate need for money, the odd time it is for her young son, who is soaking up culture and has ideas and opinions and a moral clarity sometimes as odds with her mothers.
And maybe I am not making this sound as good as it is. I am not.a book critic. I loved this story. And there are real emails written by the real Valpy and TIna about there mother and that extra layer, added to this made up story based in truth makes it extra fascinating.
Please the cameo appearances of Edward and Jo Happer.
The house turns out to be full of people, competing for this legacy, which may or may not even exist. And there is the question of the husband and small child Tina Penelope has left behind, the desperate need for money, the odd time it is for her young son, who is soaking up culture and has ideas and opinions and a moral clarity sometimes as odds with her mothers.
And maybe I am not making this sound as good as it is. I am not.a book critic. I loved this story. And there are real emails written by the real Valpy and TIna about there mother and that extra layer, added to this made up story based in truth makes it extra fascinating.
Please the cameo appearances of Edward and Jo Happer.
April 12, 2025
Fonseca, a work of historical fiction, fills a gap in the life of writer Penelope Fitzgerald. A vague and unexpected invitation from long-lost wealthy relatives to Fitzgerald's son, Valpy, brings the English mother and son to Fonseca, Mexico. Immediately immersed into a social contest for fortune and favor of the heiresses, they adjust to life away from everything familiar.
Valpy spends his days apart from his mother, and on the outside, seems to adapt to life away from home quickly. Penelope, on the other hand, remains wary of others and their motivations.
Jessica Francis Kane sends her readers to Mexico in the early 1950s, painting the main house and the characters within with vivid description. It's easy to see the color and texture of Fonseca's food, plants, architecture, and animals.
Anyone interested in artists, writers, and travel in the mid-1900s will enjoy this well-researched and imaginative novel with a strong female lead.
Thank you to Penguin Press for the ARC.
#Fonseca #NetGalley
Valpy spends his days apart from his mother, and on the outside, seems to adapt to life away from home quickly. Penelope, on the other hand, remains wary of others and their motivations.
Jessica Francis Kane sends her readers to Mexico in the early 1950s, painting the main house and the characters within with vivid description. It's easy to see the color and texture of Fonseca's food, plants, architecture, and animals.
Anyone interested in artists, writers, and travel in the mid-1900s will enjoy this well-researched and imaginative novel with a strong female lead.
Thank you to Penguin Press for the ARC.
#Fonseca #NetGalley
August 15, 2025
In the early 1950s, the English author Penelope Fitzgerald went on a trip to Mexico. At the time she was pregnant with her third child and was traveling with her eldest, a young son, Valpy. Her younger daughter and husband stayed behind. Her motivation was an elusive inheritance that might have aided her and her brilliant yet rarely sober husband to continue funding a literary magazine and make a life back in England. Building upon these facts, Jessica Francis Kane creates a world of intrigue, quirky characters, and haphazard events that bewilder, enchant, and frustrate both Penelope and Valpy. What have they gotten into? Interspersed with a narrative that is observant, wry, and picturesque are actual letters written and recalled years later by Valpy and his sister. The artist, Edward Hopper and his wife also make an appearance! This is an enjoyable and enlightening read that should appeal to many who appreciate travel, clever observations, and a touch of adventure. Highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley for providing this title.
August 26, 2025
A story within a story, or perhaps more accurately, a memoir within a novel within a biography. Having started this novel on #NetGalley without having properly read any reviews or, apparently, the synopsis, I didn't realize it was based on the author Penelope Fitzgerald. It was a delight to find out as I adore her books Offshore and The Bookshop and now will want to read more of her work. I enjoyed the added storyline of The Hopper's in Mexico (Saltillo) as much of my reading lately has an undercurrent of art and artists. Also, as I was reading, the setting and atmosphere of magic brought back memories of other much loved books such as Consider This, Senora by Harriet Doerr and even Like Water For Chocolate. Favorite characters? Valpy, most definitely, plus Chela and Jo.
4 plus stars! Cozy and lighthearted and yet mysterious and reflective, even a touch tragic. Spurred me to look into Saltillo, the art of Hopper and reminisce about the Penelope Fitzgerald books I have read and other books on my shelf about expats in Mexico. Very enjoyable.
I also recommend Kane's book, The Report.
4 plus stars! Cozy and lighthearted and yet mysterious and reflective, even a touch tragic. Spurred me to look into Saltillo, the art of Hopper and reminisce about the Penelope Fitzgerald books I have read and other books on my shelf about expats in Mexico. Very enjoyable.
I also recommend Kane's book, The Report.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2025
In late 1952, writer Penelope Fitzgerald (1916–2000) and her husband, Desmond, faced severe financial troubles and the literary magazine they co-edited World Review was failing. In addition, Desmond’s alcoholism was increasingly spinning out of control and Penelope was three months pregnant with their third child.
When Penelope received a surprising invitation to Mexico from distant family connections, two elderly women named Delaney, who asked to meet her son, Valpy, who was five-year-old at the time, and hinted that he might inherit their silver-mine fortune, she saw a possible Hail Mary solution to the family’s financial problems. She immediately arranged care for her two-year-old daughter, Tina, left Desmond in charge of the upcoming journal issue, and travelled with Valpy by ship from London to New York, then on by bus to Mexico.
Writing about it in an essay for the London Review of Books almost thirty years later, Fitzgerald laid out only the bare bones of their ultimately disastrous three-month stay at the Delaney mansion in the Mexican town she fittingly calls Fonseca (which means “dry well”). On the night that they arrived, she discovered that the Delaney women were well on their way to “drinking themselves steadily to death,” and were already surrounded by others competing for the fortune, all of whom “wanted to get rid of me and my son as soon as possible.” Soon, more “pretenders” showed up, including a mysterious man claiming to be a close relation of the ladies. Many odd events occurred, including an accidental death, for which she and Valpy were somehow blamed. Finally, she reports, “we left on the long-distance bus without a legacy, but knowing what it was to be hated.”
As much as she would have liked to have written about her sojourn in Mexico, she realized that the entire experience already felt like fiction, and that she would not be able to write it in a way that could possibly sound believable. “I knew that I hadn’t the capacity to relate the wide-spreading complications of the Mexican legacy, however well I remembered them,” but, she added, “I am sorry to let it go.”
Luckily for readers, in her new novel, Fonseca, Jessica Francis Kane has taken up the gauntlet and reimagined the Mexico story that Fitzgerald was never able to write. This is no mean feat. Fitzgerald left behind sparse breadcrumbs: she rarely spoke to friends or family of her time in Mexico and there were few surviving letters, notes, or accounts of the trip. Perhaps this has ultimately worked in Kane’s favor; unobstructed by the complications of the true story, she has had the freedom to create a fully cohesive fictional narrative. Kane observes in the acknowledgments that she and Fitzgerald share an interest in the relationship between history, biography, and fiction, and this novel is a beautiful blend of research and imagination. ...
This is the first part of the review that I wrote for the online review journal BookBrowse. The rest of the review along with an essay on Penelope Fitzgerald is available at this link:
https: //www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index....
When Penelope received a surprising invitation to Mexico from distant family connections, two elderly women named Delaney, who asked to meet her son, Valpy, who was five-year-old at the time, and hinted that he might inherit their silver-mine fortune, she saw a possible Hail Mary solution to the family’s financial problems. She immediately arranged care for her two-year-old daughter, Tina, left Desmond in charge of the upcoming journal issue, and travelled with Valpy by ship from London to New York, then on by bus to Mexico.
Writing about it in an essay for the London Review of Books almost thirty years later, Fitzgerald laid out only the bare bones of their ultimately disastrous three-month stay at the Delaney mansion in the Mexican town she fittingly calls Fonseca (which means “dry well”). On the night that they arrived, she discovered that the Delaney women were well on their way to “drinking themselves steadily to death,” and were already surrounded by others competing for the fortune, all of whom “wanted to get rid of me and my son as soon as possible.” Soon, more “pretenders” showed up, including a mysterious man claiming to be a close relation of the ladies. Many odd events occurred, including an accidental death, for which she and Valpy were somehow blamed. Finally, she reports, “we left on the long-distance bus without a legacy, but knowing what it was to be hated.”
As much as she would have liked to have written about her sojourn in Mexico, she realized that the entire experience already felt like fiction, and that she would not be able to write it in a way that could possibly sound believable. “I knew that I hadn’t the capacity to relate the wide-spreading complications of the Mexican legacy, however well I remembered them,” but, she added, “I am sorry to let it go.”
Luckily for readers, in her new novel, Fonseca, Jessica Francis Kane has taken up the gauntlet and reimagined the Mexico story that Fitzgerald was never able to write. This is no mean feat. Fitzgerald left behind sparse breadcrumbs: she rarely spoke to friends or family of her time in Mexico and there were few surviving letters, notes, or accounts of the trip. Perhaps this has ultimately worked in Kane’s favor; unobstructed by the complications of the true story, she has had the freedom to create a fully cohesive fictional narrative. Kane observes in the acknowledgments that she and Fitzgerald share an interest in the relationship between history, biography, and fiction, and this novel is a beautiful blend of research and imagination. ...
This is the first part of the review that I wrote for the online review journal BookBrowse. The rest of the review along with an essay on Penelope Fitzgerald is available at this link:
https: //www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index....
June 6, 2025
Fonseca is a feat of the imagination. Jessica Francis Kane attains innumerable heights with this novel, but I’ll name just a few. First, she wrote a story with her favorite author at its center. This is actually two feats: Penelope Fitzgerald’s children are alive and in on the project—making it nearly impossible to fathom an honest word about her. How does Kane do it? The same way Fitzgerald wrote her inimitable novels: Most every line is fiction, laced with truth. Next is the way Kane depicts this British mother of the 1950s—sensibly restrained, revealing her love in the most delicate perceptions of her children. And last, Kane discerns a missing line in the Lord’s Prayer. I’ve sat in on more than a few sermons and never heard of such. And yet she’s right. Along with other achievements—like I said, innumerable—this makes for a tremendously rewarding end.
July 14, 2025
FONSECA is a marvel of literary and historical fiction about the late Booker Prize-winning writer Penelope Fitzgerald and her trip to Mexico with young son Valpy in an effort to win an inheritance. It is also, wondrously and beautifully, the novel that Fitzgerald herself once contemplated and might have written. With the same gift for deceptively telling detail and dialogue, Kane weaves together biography, history and fiction with tremendous skill and a perfectly honed sense of what conveys story. The choices on display here—from the stately house of the potential benefactors and their drop-in guests, to the real-life emails between author Kane and Fitzgerald's own children who also figure fictionally in the text—create a truly compelling read and a stunning testament to one of the twentieth century’s greatest novelists.
September 11, 2025
It was an interesting journey. The imagery was wonderful. The situational comedy was delightful; the proper, grounded English woman set down in a town informed by magical realism. I laughed out loud a few times. It takes careful reading to fully enjoy, I think. The humor can be subtle.
There are a lot of interesting characters including an irritable Edward Hopper and his wife. The story feels more like multiple character studies. Think Knives Out or Agatha Christie but it’s not plot driven. An interesting little book. It might be perfect to bring on a trip. I bet it would be a fun audio book. Someone else wrote: The book works as allegory for travel as performance, for hospitality as theater, and for memory as unreliable architect of family myth. —-YES!
Remember “the mountains are further than they seem.”
“Decision is a torment to anyone with imagination.”
There are a lot of interesting characters including an irritable Edward Hopper and his wife. The story feels more like multiple character studies. Think Knives Out or Agatha Christie but it’s not plot driven. An interesting little book. It might be perfect to bring on a trip. I bet it would be a fun audio book. Someone else wrote: The book works as allegory for travel as performance, for hospitality as theater, and for memory as unreliable architect of family myth. —-YES!
Remember “the mountains are further than they seem.”
“Decision is a torment to anyone with imagination.”
September 1, 2025
This was the unwritten story that Penelope Fitzgerald never wrote. 1852 she and her husband are almost bankrupt. Two children and another on the way, an invitation to visit Mexico, with the tantalizing treat of a legacy for Valpy, her son and apparently the only male heir to the riches of the two aunts. We see Penelope undertake a perilous journey to the aunts home, but the welcome is not that warm, though they like Valpy well enough. There are lots of other contenders for the legacy and everyone is kept at arms length.
The cast is very varied and interesting. In such a community, a certain cut throat attitude is there and that proves Penelope’s downfall and ouster from the race. Nice outline of good and mean features found in humans as well.
The cast is very varied and interesting. In such a community, a certain cut throat attitude is there and that proves Penelope’s downfall and ouster from the race. Nice outline of good and mean features found in humans as well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews