Compared to Patrick O'Brian and Anthony Powell, famous English novelists who, like Fitzgerald, died in 2000, Penelope Fitzgerald's reputation is a relatively modest one. Neither her name nor her works, with the possible exception of The Blue Flower, are well known to the general public, yet what Fitzgerald's reputation lacks in reach it makes up for in intensity. To her admirers, many of whom are fellow writers, no praise is too high: ‘There is a growing body of opinion that views Penelope Fitzgerald (1916–2000) as the pre-eminent English novelist of the late twentieth century, one whose novels in their artistry and grace bear comparison to those of Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf’; and, even more emphatically: ‘Of all the novelists in English of the last quarter-century, she has the most unarguable claim on greatness.’ Evidence of the growth in Fitzgerald's posthumous reputation comes in various forms.

The appearance in 2013 of Hermione Lee's award-winning biography, Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life, published by Chatto & Windus, and the reissue of Fitzgerald's writing in 2013–14 by HarperCollins (Fourth Estate) constitute a significant commitment by these publishers to invest in Fitzgerald's work and reputation, reflecting their confidence in her continuing appeal. Fitzgerald's books have also been translated into numerous languages and adapted for other media. The Blue Flower and Human Voices have both been dramatized for radio and further adaptations are thought to be in the offing: among them a theatrical version of At Freddie's and a film of The Bookshop, a Spanish-British co-production directed by Isabel Coixet, to be released in 2017. Fitzgerald and her novels also regularly feature in the ‘best of ’ lists of literary journalists. In 2008 The Times included Fitzgerald as one of ‘The 50 greatest British writers since 1945’, in 2012 The Blue Flower was named in The Observer as one of ‘the ten best historical novels’, and in 2015 The Beginning of Spring was included in The Observer's 100 best English-language novels of all time. High-profile literary enthusiasts for Fitzgerald's work include Kate Atkinson, Julian Barnes, A. S. Byatt, Sebastian Faulks, Alan Hollinghurst and Philip Hensher. Fitzgerald's high standing in such company prompts predictably sour responses. As a Times writer sarcastically observed: ‘Certain things are a sine qua non of being a true intellectual, such as liking the novels of Penelope Fitzgerald.’