Jack Sheppard

Jack is the novel’s central character and protagonist. He is based on a real-life historical character, whose exploits as a thief and as a fugitive from the law form the basis of the experiences of this Jack. Where the Jack Sheppard of the book differs from the Jack Sheppard of history is in gender identity.

There seems to be relatively little question that the historical Jack was cisgender male – that is, someone who, as an adult, inhabited the male body and sensibilities he was born into. The novel, however, develops a Jack who was transgender – that is, someone who as a child he was born into a female body but had male sensibilities, and as an adult inhabited a surgically altered female body, or at least a body as close to physically male as surgical techniques of the period (the late 1700’s) made possible. In short...