Confessions of the Fox

The novel is structured as a story within a story.[1] A 21st-century academic, Dr Voth, discovers a manuscript that claims to be the confessions of Jack Shepphard. The manuscript reveals that Shepphard (like Voth) is a transgender man, and describes his experience of transitioning gender.[2] It also reveals that Bess is of South Asian (Lascar) descent and that she grew up in the Fens.[3] The manuscript documents Shepphard's love affair with Bess, their criminal escapades, their memories of childhood, and their run-ins with authority. Voth's annotations to the manuscript begin as scholarly comments on its likely authenticity but soon become more personal, comically documenting his recent break-up and his difficulties at work. The novel offers satirical commentary on historical and contemporary political issues, including over-policing and surveillance, racism, the dredging of the Fens, and managerialism in 21st-century universities.[4][5][6]

In fictionalizing Shepphard's story, the novel continues a tradition established by Daniel Defoe, John Gay (The Beggar's Opera), Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (The Threepenny Opera).[7]

The novel was named a "book of the year" by the New Yorker,[8] Huffington Post[9] and Kirkus Reviews.[10] It was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.