By The Week US
Copyright theweek
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Less than $3 per week
View Profile
The Explainer
Talking Points
The Week Recommends
Newsletters
From the Magazine
The Week Junior
Food & Drink
Personal Finance
All Categories
Newsletter sign up
Culture & Life
Jessica Francis Kane’s 6 favorite books that prove less is more
The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
Newsletter sign up
Jessica Francis Kane is the author of Fonseca
(Image credit: Courtesy image)
Jump to category:
‘The Beginning of Spring’ by Penelope Fitzgerald (1988)
‘The Means of Escape’ by Penelope Fitzgerald (2000)
‘The Afterlife’ by Penelope Fitzgerald (2003)
‘According to Queeney’ by Beryl Bainbridge (2001)
‘The Queen of the Tambourine’ by Jane Gardam (1991)
‘Beautyland’ by Marie-Helene Bertino (2024)
The Week US
9 September 2025
When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission. All reviews are written independently by our editorial team.
Jessica Francis Kane’s new novel, Fonseca, fictionalizes an event in the life of British novelist Penelope Fitzgerald. It follows the future literary legend as she and her 6-year-old son travel to a small town in Mexico in 1952, hoping to claim an unexpected inheritance.
‘The Beginning of Spring’ by Penelope Fitzgerald (1988)
I’ve been steeped in everything by and about Fitzgerald for the better part of a decade, and this is my favorite of her novels. A city (Moscow), a landscape (winter giving way to spring), and a vanished time (pre-revolutionary Russia) are all mastered in less than 200 pages. The English printer Frank Reid—confused husband, loving but baffled father, patient friend—is one of her best creations. Buy it here.
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
‘The Means of Escape’ by Penelope Fitzgerald (2000)
Fitzgerald was preparing this book, her only story collection, when she died in 2000. Like her novels, the stories are precise and morally astute. They range across countries and ages, stretch from the historical to the supernatural, and are all mordantly funny. My favorite is “Our Lives Are Only Lent to Us”; it provides clues to her thinking about a place like Fonseca. Buy it here.
‘The Afterlife’ by Penelope Fitzgerald (2003)
After you’ve read all of her novels (there are only nine), you’ll want more of Fitzgerald’s distinctive sensibility. That is when you turn to this collection, full of brilliant literary and personal essays. Buy it here.
‘According to Queeney’ by Beryl Bainbridge (2001)
Bainbridge was a contemporary and an acquaintance of Fitzgerald, as well as a fellow master of the supreme art of what and exactly how much to leave out. This novel about Samuel Johnson captures the great man’s personality with dexterity, humor, and compassion. Buy it here.
‘The Queen of the Tambourine’ by Jane Gardam (1991)
Gardam, an approximate contemporary, and the third guest at my dream dinner party after Fitzgerald and Bainbridge, shares their wit and humor. Gardam is well known for her Old Filth series, but this novel about a woman losing and then regaining her sense of self is not to be missed. Buy it here.
Sign up for Today’s Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
‘Beautyland’ by Marie-Helene Bertino (2024)
This beautiful novel about Adina, a girl not quite of this world, is my favorite novel of the past year. Fitzgerald would have admired the way it champions the underdog and the misunderstood, her heroes to the end. Buy it here.
The Week US
Social Links Navigation
Trump’s drug war is now a real shooting war
Talking Points
The Venezuela boat strike was ‘not a mere law enforcement action’
Book reviews: ‘Baldwin: A Love Story’ and ‘The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces’
A loving James Baldwin biography and the drug crimes of two special ops veterans
‘Voters will have to sort this mess out’
Instant Opinion
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
You might also like
Book reviews: ‘Baldwin: A Love Story’ and ‘The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces’
A loving James Baldwin biography and the drug crimes of two special ops veterans
Rigatoni with ‘no-vodka sauce’ recipe
The Week Recommends
Comfort food meets a clever alcohol-free twist on a classic
BookTok is reviving publishing – but at what cost?
In The Spotlight
Social media recommendations are boosting book sales but critics give the trend mixed reviews
September’s books tell of friendship in middle age, teachers versus fascists, and Covid psychosis
the week recommends
September books include Angela Flournoy’s ‘The Wilderness,’ Randi Weingarten’s ‘Why Fascists Fear Teachers’ and Patricia Lockwood’s ‘Will There Ever Be Another You’
6 blooming homes for gardeners
Featuring a greenhouse in Illinois and 13 raised garden beds in New Mexico
The Roses: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch star in black comedy reboot
The Week Recommends
‘Acidly enjoyable’ remake of the 1980s classic features a warring couple and toxic love
Film reviews: The Roses, Splitsville, and Twinless
A happy union devolves into domestic warfare, a couple’s open marriage reaps chaos, and an unlikely friendship takes surprising turns
Music reviews: Laufey, Deftones, and Earl Sweatshirt
“A Matter of Time,” “Private Music,” and “Live Laugh Love”
View More â–¸
Contact Future’s experts
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Advertise With Us
The Week is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street
