Praise for
CONFESSIONS
OF THE
FOX
“A mind-bending romp through a gender-fluid, 18th-century London, Rosenberg’s debut novel is a joyous mash-up of literary genres shot through with queer theory and awash in sex, crime and revolution.”
“This book will make you want to run out into the street, set a jail on fire, and make out with someone beautiful in the ruins of Carceral Capitalism, and that’s about all you really need to know.”
“Academic intrigue meets the 18th-century underworld in Rosenberg’s astonishing and mesmerizing debut, which juxtaposes queer and trans theory, heroic romance, postcolonial analysis, and speculative fiction.
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“Confessions of the Fox is so goddammed good. Reading it was like an out-of-body experience. I want to run through the streets screaming about it. It should be in the personal canon of every Queer & Non-Cis person. Read it. ”
“An epic queer love story. . .[A] disruptive project of devotion. A singular, daring, and thrilling novel: political, sexy, and cunning as a fox.”
SUMMARY FOR TRADE PUBLICITY and EVENTS
Set in the 18th-century London underworld and a 21st-century Northeastern university campus, this bawdy, genre-bending, history-spanning novel reimagines the life of thief and jailbreaker Jack Sheppard to tell a profound story about gender, love, and liberation.
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In the present day, our recently-jilted transmale narrator, Professor Voth, finds refuge in his work, obsessively researching the life of Jack Sheppard, a legendary eighteenth century thief. No one knows Jack’s true story—his confessions have never been found. That is, until Dr. Voth discovers a mysterious stack of papers titled Confessions of the Fox.
Dated 1724, the manuscript tells the story of an orphan named P. Sold into servitude at twelve, P struggles for years with their desire to live as “Jack.” When P falls dizzyingly in love with Bess, a sex worker looking for freedom of her own, P begins to imagine a different life. Bess brings P into the London underworld where scamps and rogues clash with London’s newly established police force, queer subcultures thrive, and ominous threats of an oncoming plague abound. At last, P becomes Jack Sheppard, one of the most notorious—and most wanted—thieves in history.
Back in the present, Dr. Voth works feverishly day and night to authenticate the manuscript. But he’s not the only one who wants Jack’s story—and some people will do whatever it takes to get it. As both Jack and Voth are drawn into corruption and conspiracy, it becomes clear that their fates are intertwined—and only a miracle will save them both.
An imaginative retelling of Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, Confessions of the Fox blends high-spirited adventure, subversive history, and provocative wit to animate forgotten histories and the extraordinary characters hidden within.
For all Academic Publicity and Academic Events, please refer to this Summary.