Fonseca: A Novel

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

Penelope Fitzgerald's charming husband is a struggling alcoholic, the London literary magazine they edit together is on the brink of bankruptcy, and she is pregnant with their third child. When she receives a mysterious letter dangling the possibility of an inheritance, Penelope sees a creative and practical lifeline that might save them. Based on Fitzgerald's momentous 1952 trip to northern Mexico before she was famous, Jessica Francis Kane's brilliantly imagined Fonseca is both a treasure hunt and a love story.

Blending history, biography, and fiction, Kane has created an enthralling world while telling a story about how far someone might go in pursuit of a dream.