Jessica Francis Kane has taken a real person and a true situation and embellished them. In 1952 the future author Penelope Fitzgerald leaves London with her six year old son, leaving behind her alcoholic husband and her two year old daughter. Her destination is Fonesca, Mexico where she hopes her son will inherit money from two elderly, unmarried sisters who are distantly related to her family. When she and her son arrive at the sisters’ villa, she learns there are others vying for the money.

Kane artistically weaves fact and fiction throughout Fonesca. Some may find it confusing that some characters, events and locations are fictitious and some are not. The more I read Fonesca, the more I enjoyed it and look forward to reading a few novels by Penelope Fitzgerald.