Fonseca

Publishers Weekly Must-Read Book for Fall 2025 *Named a Most-Anticipated Book of 2025 by Lit Hub* Library Journal Title to Watch* 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 "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 A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice . Named a Must-Read Book for Summer by the LA Times, a Most-Anticipated Book of 2025 by Lit Hub and Publishers Weekly, and a best book of August by Town and Country, Foreign Policy, and BookPage . Library Journal Title to Watch 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.

Ideal for readers interested in general fiction.