Confession of Jack Straw, The

The Confession of Jack Straw is both a political novel and a literary novel of great style and humanity. Taking the form of a confession of one of the leaders of the English Peasant Revolt of 1381, the novel accompanies the peasants as they travel through southern Englan, gathering followers, opening prisons, killing lawyers and telling stories. Simone Zelitch's first novel, it marks her as a writer already of the first rank.