A review by readingwithhippos
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg

4.0

If you’re into criminals with hearts of gold and also really enjoy scholarly research and footnotes, you will love this book. It’s two stories in one—the first is about Jack Sheppard, a thief in 1724 London, and the second is about the present-day professor who is transcribing Jack’s manuscript, told entirely through footnotes. The professor’s interest is piqued when he realizes that Jack was a trans man, which is something they share in common. Jack’s story is mesmerizing, his exploits and escapes from jail and his lovely romance with Bess, a prostitute, but the modern story is uneven, at times dry and clinical and at others manic and shout-y. Still, Jack’s thread was compelling enough—and certainly suspenseful enough!—to pull me through. Let’s hear it for historical fiction that doesn’t pretend only straight, cis, white people existed in the past.