diff --git a/src/test_parser.ts b/src/test_parser.ts
index d94e21b..9798822 100644
--- a/src/test_parser.ts
+++ b/src/test_parser.ts
@@ -250,7 +250,11 @@ async function parseJunitXml(xml: any): Promise<TestResult> {
                 const element = failure_or_error[0]
 
                 message = element.$ ? element.$.message : undefined
-                details = element._
+                if (typeof element === "string") {
+                    details = element
+                } else {
+                    details = element._
+                }
 
                 counts.failed++
             } else {
diff --git a/test/junit.ts b/test/junit.ts
index 204d8b1..df1e5aa 100644
--- a/test/junit.ts
+++ b/test/junit.ts
@@ -150,4 +150,12 @@ describe("junit", async () => {
     it("parses testsuite with no failure message", async () => {
         const result = await parseJunitFile(`${resourcePath}/07-no-failure-message.xml`)
     })
+
+    it("parses attributeless failure tags", async () => {
+        // https://github.com/jest-community/jest-junit generates failure tags
+        // that have no attributes, only inner text.
+        // Example: <failure>Failed!</failure>
+        const result = await parseJunitFile(`${resourcePath}/08-failure-noattr-only-innertext.xml`)
+        expect(result.suites[0].cases[0].details).to.eql("Failed!")
+    })
 })
diff --git a/test/resources/junit/08-failure-noattr-only-innertext.xml b/test/resources/junit/08-failure-noattr-only-innertext.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3835ca1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/resources/junit/08-failure-noattr-only-innertext.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<testsuites name="jest tests">
+    <testsuite name="testsuite1">
+        <testcase id="com.example.test1" name="Test 1" time="0.001">
+            <failure>Failed!</failure>
+        </testcase>
+    </testsuite>
+</testsuites>