Fonseca

A Novel

De: Jessica Francis Kane

Narrado por: Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Nicholas Guy Smith, Christine Rendel, Jessica Francis Kane

Named a Top 10 Historical Fiction Book of 2025 by the New York Times Book Review
Named a Best Book of the Year by Esquire, Kirkus, and the Chicago Tribune Biblioracle
Named a Best Historical Fiction Book and Best Audio Book of the Year by Bookpage
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

“Kane’s remarkable excavation of this interlude, including real letters from Valpy, drips with juicy conflict and detail.” —Los Angeles Times

“A fable with heart and a searching investigation into what makes a marriage endure." —Boston Globe

"A marvel of sharp concision." —Wall Street Journal

“A daring book…fresh and beautiful.” —Chicago Tribune

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. When she receives a letter from two elderly sisters named Delaney, distant relations with a silver mine, who dangle the possibility of an inheritance, she recognizes it as a creative and practical lifeline.

Jessica Francis Kane’s brilliantly imagined Fonseca fictionalizes Penelope’s real and momentous trip to northern Mexico in pursuit of this legacy. 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 frequent the house: 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 homage: Fonseca is an enthralling world of its own as well as a stunning fictionalization of a season in Fitzgerald’s life.


© 2025 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Short, but epic!

This is a brief novel, but has an epic scope in terms of its carnival of different characters. The depiction of the Mexican setting is almost magical, and the different motives of the different characters are a panorama of human nature. The story also proves that it is often. The experience itself that transcends mere profit or loss. I found this aspect of the novel inspiring and even comforting. The novelist proves the point that fiction is necessary, sometimes due to the shortcomings of history.

Superb performance of an evocative novel

An intriguing and appealing cast of characters gathered in a colorful location. Highly recommended for fans of Penelope Fitzgerald's novels. The principal narrator is simply superb in bringing this book to vivid life.

The setting in Mexico in the time period was very engaging

The narration of Valpy was very distracting, even grating. A lovely story and the rest of the narration was fine, but a little disappointing a child does not maintain a voice like that.

Delightful

This is so rich in detail, ritual, smells, tastes, and more. Edward Hopper makes a guest appearance alongside Penelope Fitzgerald. A generous, charming story that took me to a new time and place.

Rambling nonsense

A pointless story about a pointless endeavor. A sad waste of time. The narrator who reads the child’s part does a very irritating rendition of a child’s voice.