Isabel Fonseca, Lady Amis (born 1961) is an American writer. She is best known for her books '' Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey'' and ''Attachment''. She was married to novelist Sir

Martin Amis Sir Martin Louis Amis (25 August 1949 – 19 May 2023) was an English novelist, essayist, memoirist, screenwriter and critic. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and '' London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Mem ...

until his death in May 2023.

Early life

Isabel Fonseca was born in New York in 1961 and is the youngest of four children born to Uruguayan sculptor Gonzalo Fonseca and American painter Elizabeth Kaplan. Her siblings include

Caio Fonseca Caio Fonseca (born 1959) is an American painter. He is the son of the Uruguayan sculptor Gonzalo Fonseca; the artist Bruno Fonseca was his brother, and the writer Isabel Fonseca is his sister. Life and work Fonseca grew up in the West Villag ...

, a painter whose works hang in the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

and

Whitney Museum of Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was foun ...

; Bruno Fonseca, a painter who died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

in 1994; and Quina Fonseca, a designer of clothes, costumes, and hats. Her maternal grandfather was Jacob Kaplan, the former owner of Welch's grape juice. Fonseca grew up in a house on West 11th Street in New York that used to belong to

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculpture, sculptor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works include ''The Minute Man'', an 1874 statue in Concord, Massachusetts, and his Statue of Abr ...

, the sculptor of the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a List of national memorials of the United States, U.S. national memorial honoring Abraham Lincoln, the List of presidents of the United States, 16th president of the United States, located on the western end of the Nati ...

. Fonseca attended

Concord Academy Concord Academy (also known as CA) is a coeducational, Independent school, independent University-preparatory school, college-preparatory school for boarding and day students in Concord, Massachusetts. CA educates approximately 400 students in ...

and graduated magna cum laude from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

in 1984. She then went on to study at

Wadham College Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. After her brother Bruno's death, she edited a large book of his paintings which included essays by Alan Jenkins, Karen Wilkins and a personal essay by her, Isabel Fonseca. ''Bruno Fonseca: The Secret Life of Painting'' was published by Abbeville Press and the Brooklyn Museum.

Career

During her time at Wadham College, she began writing for ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', where she went on to become an assistant editor. She left the ''TLS'' to write ''Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey'', a story of the

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

which she researched while traveling alone through Eastern Europe for four years. She traveled with Gypsies from Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, and Albania. The title comes from a Gypsy

proverb A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...

, "Bury me standing. I've been on my knees all my life." ''Bury Me Standing'' was originally published in 1995 by Alfred A Knopf and translated into 22 languages. Fonseca has also written for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'', ''

Harper’s Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', and ''

The American Scholar "The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to Phi Beta Kappa society of Harvard College at the First Parish in Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundb ...

'', among other publications. Between 2003 and 2006, she and her husband,

, and two children, Fernanda and Clio, lived in

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

where she designed and built their house, in a small fishing village on a windy peninsula in the southern Atlantic. While in Uruguay, she wrote her first novel, ''Attachment'' published by Alfred A Knopf and Chatto and Windus in 2009.

Marriage to Martin Amis

Isabel Fonseca met novelist Martin Amis during a phone interview while she was working at ''The Times Literary Supplement''. They began a relationship while Amis was still married to his first wife, Antonia Phillips, an American academic and the mother of his two sons. In 1993, Amis left Phillips for Fonseca, which led to much "finger-wagging" by the British press. The press painted Amis as a second-generation philanderer and Fonseca as a sultry American heiress (because of her being a trustee to the J. M. Kaplan fund). They had two daughters. In 2011, the Amises left London for Brooklyn. In May 2023, Martin Amis died at their house in Lake Worth, Florida.

Notable works

* ''Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey'' (1995) * ''Bruno Fonseca: The Secret Life of Painting (2000)'' * ''Attachment'' (2009)

References

External links

Interview in ''The Guardian''

Reportaje Diario ''El País''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fonseca, Isabel 1961 births Living people Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford American people of Uruguayan descent Amis family Barnard College alumni Writers from New York City Wives of knights