Confessions of the Fox

Confessions of the Fox is a 2018 historical literary novel by American writer and transgender scholar Jordy Rosenberg. The 21st-century scholar and transgender man Dr. Voth finds a manuscript purporting to be the authentic confessions of Jack Sheppard, London’s most notorious thief of the 18th century, whom Rosenberg re-imagines as a transgender man. As Dr. Voth transcribes the manuscript and annotates it, he finds parallels between his life and Jack’s. Voth begins to wonder about the authenticity of the manuscript when he finds odd phrases and references in the text. A shady pharmaceutical company uses their connections to Voth’s university to strongarm him into working for their company and publishing the manuscript through their corporate press. Dr. Voth suspects that the manuscript contains a secret about the making of synthetic testosterone and that the company wishes to exploit this secret for profit while using Voth’s work as a publicity stunt. The manuscript details Jack’s life as a transgender man and his daring search for authenticity and freedom in a world of increasingly brutal political control, surveillance, and wage work. The novel deals with themes such as The Relationship Between Gender Identity, Rebellion, and Criminality;