The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

Written by Hallie Rubenhold

Narrated by Louise Brealey

Five devastating human stories and a dark and moving portrait of Victorian London—the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper.



Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden, and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates; they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. The person responsible was never identified, but the character created by the press to fill that gap has become far more famous than any of these five women.



For more than a century, newspapers have been keen to tell us that "the Ripper" preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, but it has prevented the real stories of these fascinating women from being told. Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, revealing a world not just of Dickens and Queen Victoria, but of poverty, homelessness, and rampant misogyny. They died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time—but their greatest misfortune was to be born a woman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Oct 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781684573981

Hallie Rubenhold

HALLIE RUBENHOLD is a social historian whose expertise lies in rediscovering the stories of previously unknown women and episodes in history. The Five is the first full-length biography of the victims of Jack the Ripper to be published since 1888. By drawing upon a wealth of previously unseen archival material and adding a much-needed historical context to the victims’ lives, The Five promises to change the narrative of these murders forever.  

Reviews for The Five

[Becki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book gives everything the Jack Ripper mythos/history denies the victims - being seen as humans with lives and worth.

The book is excellently researched. Rubenhold never puts words into the women's mouths. If there is no info on what happened during a period, then Rubenhold says that.

The role that Victorian society and sexism had in these women's lives, the suffering and deaths of these women have long needed examining and focus. These women have been cast aside because they have been branded worthless, fallen women. An issue many female victims face is that if they don't fit into the Madonna ideal, they are seen as "The Whore". I hope this book can change the narrative on these women and allow them to be seen as human beings.

[Anya · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great idea but the voice was irritating to listen to and it seemed more like an essay than a book. The parts where senses were used were best but most felt like reading an encyclopedia. Having said that I love the idea and I did learn about the time period, so it was worth reading imo.

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold I'm not finished yet, but this is pretty amazing. Rubenhold has gone to primary and secondary period sources to discover a great deal about the women who have existed merely as "murdered prostitute" all these years. The scholarship is impressive, as is the imagination to start over, virtually from scratch. Given how very much has been written about their murders since 1888 it's kind of amazing how little we ever knew about the victims, when there was so much available.There is a bit much speculation on the mundane presented as fact: there is a great deal that can be inferred with high probability, but the construction "she would have" grates on me. There is also a rather constant refrain of how the women were assumed by the police of the time to be prostitutes in the absence of any positive evidence that they were. But that is a welcome reminder not to accept stereotype as proven fact. Everybody lies, including the police.Dec 20, 2019***Now that I am finished my opinion certainly hasn't gone down at all. Although I knew generally how constrained the lives of Victorian women were, and how tenuous their survival, I didn't have a lot of specifics. It's kind of staggering how little progress we've made in the past 130 years. Forensics have improved but little else has. Dec 23, 2019

[Mady McGraw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’m so glad I listened to this novel. My heart aches for these women. Wonderful narration, and truly remarkable writing. Thank you for giving us their stories. I remember you, Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those books that is both surprising, and not surprising. Jack the Ripper is big in pop culture - the murdered of Women of the Night, prostitutes. However, the victims are women who are just trying to survive in a world that condemns women who are don't fit the norm. In almost all of the cases, the victims were poor, ill, abused, and often alcoholic. Victorian society (and even today) seem to blame the these ladies and consider them deserving of death for their situation. Which is awful considering that there is no help, no safety net, and getting drunk is the easiest way to escape from reality.

As for the book, the author has done her research. The London police did not have tools or resources that a modern police department has, nor was there much of an initiative to actually look into their deaths. Its not even clear if all the deaths were committed by the same person. I very much appreciate that the author had to speculate on what these women were feeling as they went about there day to day to life. Unfortunately, not much is known, and the newspapers of the day would add lurid details that weren't always true, just to sell a paper.

I also appreciated that these women's stories are about their lives, not their deaths. Their murder was only described in a few paragraphs, but chapters were given to each women on how they lived and who they loved. I think that the name "Jack the Ripper" was only mentioned in the introduction.

Which leaves this - these women were murdered by someone, probably a man, there names should be known, but only Jack the Ripper is remembered today. And, unfortunately, this is still happening - a prostitute is found murdered, but nobody cares, from the police to the media, to the middle class. There is something seriously wrong when a Killer (or killers) is more known than his victims.

[gingirl70 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was okay, but it was some of the driest non-fiction I've read. It feels like reading a research paper, and I really didn't learn much that was new.

[fawnp · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I do not listen to much non-fiction because books are my escape from an emotionally taxing work life, but I am so glad I came across this book!

So well written, it was easy to stay engaged and looking forward to getting back to the book at every opportunity.

This book provided so much context of the Victorian era that I was able to make several connections from historical fiction that I have enjoyed over the years. Les Miserables comes to mind.

The other major connection for me was the parallels between society's treatment of those in poverty then and now. Things haven't changed as much as we'd like to pretend. The author makes a similar point about the treatment of female victims.

Not a lighthearted read, but meaningful, and interesting. The author did an excellent job of humanizing the five women who've largely been forgotten.

[Sihaya ??‍♀️??‍♀️??? · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book is about the women who were victims of Jack the Ripper, showcasing their lives before they became victims of this killer. It documents the socioeconomic situation of the Victorian era, but it does not focus on the lives of these women and does not delve deeply into the subject. Nevertheless, it is an interesting book to read to understand the other side of this era. (Translated from Spanish)

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nonfiction account of the Jack the Ripper murders that focuses on the lives of the women he killed, along with setting the socio-economic scene in which they lived as well.

I made it halfway through this one before calling it quits, so I’m counting it. It wasn’t awful; it just didn’t hold my attention at all.

[emmyson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I appreciate the deeper look into these women as humans. Their stories are tragic and they deserve to be more than history has given them. They had lives, families, heartbreaks. They deserve to be seen as more than just another Ripper victim.

[Toni Snyder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Was absolutely great and well done. It gave a whole new light on the events and gives the women a true story.

[Shaila Mahabier · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very detailed and a good new refreshing read, it's a good perspective on those victims lives.

[STEFANIE KITE · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a great book. I learned so much about the women and life in 1880’s London. The author is right, history needs to stop focusing so much on the man who perpetuated the crimes, and more on the victims.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Digital audiobook narrated by Louise Brealey


Subtitle: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

I’ve always been fascinated by crime and devoured many true-crime books. I’ve read several about the Jack the Ripper murders. Of course, they all focused on trying to figure out who Jack was. But Rubenhold takes a completely different path. She focuses on his victims – the women who were (mostly) mischaracterized as prostitutes.

The book is divided into five parts, each woman getting as full an accounting of her background and life as possible given the years that have passed since their deaths and their relative obscurity in society at the time. Rubenhold did extensive research and she really brings these women to life. We see that some were in solid relationships and enjoyed relative security before circumstances led to a downward turn in their situations. She makes a convincing argument that the women, far from being active sex workers, were more likely homeless and sleeping in alleyways or doorstops where they might find some shelter. For more than one, alcohol abuse played a key role.

Rather than victim-shaming, Rubenhold allows for compassion for the situations these women found themselves in. Even if they were prostitutes, they still deserved the full protection of the law, or at least the full efforts of law enforcement to find and punish the perpetrator of these heinous crimes.

What I found particularly touching was the very last chapter, where Rubenhold gives an inventory of the very meager belongings of each woman at her death.

Louise Brealey does a fine job of voicing the audio edition. This kind of narrative nonfiction works well on audio because the author made the effort of make the stories personal.

[melline-725047 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a sympathetic view of the victims of Jack the Ripper. I was a bit hesitant to read this, thinking that eventually Jack would take centre stage and his victims would, once again be largely ignored. I was so wrong, and glad I was wrong.

If you are interested in this period of history, and would like to read something that doesn't focus on the man, pick this up you won't be disappointed.

[la2bkk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author has deeply researched the life and times of each of the women in this book. Each mini biography is presented in great detail along with the supporting context. The reader gets an excellent insight into the difficult life and times of each woman.

Two minor complaints. The first is that, like many authors depicting the Victorian era, characterizations of the workhouses and other social systems tend to be overly negative and dramatic for effect. I also suggest skipping the second to last chapter where the author sets forth her ideological views which are little more than a diatribe.

Nonetheless, a worthwhile and enjoyable read.

[rosienotrose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane.

Miscast in the media for nearly 130 years, the victims of Jack the Ripper finally get their full stories told in this eye-opening and chilling reminder that life for middle-class women in Victorian London could be full of social pitfalls and peril.

What Rubenfold does for the women behind the story of Jack the Ripper is take them out of the shadows and shine a light on their life and the ups and downs that followed them. It shows how easily a life can change in an era when there was no net to catch people when they fell on tough times and I found myself feeling for these women even when they were making decisions that were not in their own best interests.

Rubenfold spends a lot of time trying to prove the women weren’t sex workers, and while I understand these women’s murder were incorrectly dismissed due to the ‘fact’ that they were prostitutes - much like the Yorkshire Ripper victims nearly a hundred years later - even if they were prostitutes this was no excuse for murder and I think this could have been communicated more clearly.

Overall a deeply researched and insightful portrayal of life in Victorian England with a lot of situations that women still deal with today.

[mstrust · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The author's focus is firmly on the lives of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper, not their deaths and not the unknown man who killed them. The amount of research done and the skill with with the author was able to show that these women had families who loved them, had struggles to survive, relationships and hopes, and most of all, that not all of them were prostitutes but simply poor, often homeless women who were lumped in as prostitutes simply because the police saw nearly all the women they dealt with in the East End as "fallen" women.
If you're looking for information about the actual murders, you'll find very little here, except for the aftermath on the families.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is much written about Jack the Ripper. But little about his victims. This covers the lives of the five victims. How did they come to be in White Chapel? We learn about the harshness of life at that time for poor women, the middle and lower classes.

[Charo88 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like it. As a sociological analysis of that time and place, it's very good. But everything else is mere assumptions by the author about the lives of these women.

The mere fact that she wants to clean their image by claiming they weren't prostitutes seems absurd to me. The author is telling me that by not being prostitutes, their lives were worth more? I don't think so. You can't make some victims more so than others just because of the activities they engaged in.

What is sad about any serial killer is that the protagonist will be the killer above their victims, no matter how much or little is known about them or what their work was. One only has to look at documentaries or read books on this subject to see that there's rarely much information about the victims. I don't think the victims of the Ripper have been belittled any more. And I also don't think that whitewashing their lives makes their loss sadder or more valuable to society.

There shouldn't be a distinction between the victims. This book seems to see it as unfair that they were portrayed as prostitutes and that they weren't (which, on the other hand, is not proven). Indirectly, it's telling me that being prostitutes means they lose the importance that any other human being engaged in different duties has. (Translated from Spanish)

[smorton11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Since it’s Nonfiction November, I figured I better catch up on some of the Nonfiction Book Club selections from this year. Though book club is on hiatus until May (I am so burnt out on virtual meetings), it is still a very near and dear piece of my heart that has helped me, and many other members of book club make it through the pandemic.

The Five quickly became a favorite of my coworker, Marielle, who joined Nonfiction Book Club after her own book club, YA for all flamed out. She’s recommended it countless times at the store and made it one of her summer picks this year as well, she absolutely loves it. The book itself focuses on the lives of the victims of Jack the Ripper. Their deaths are barely mentioned and there is no gruesome true crime style recounting of how they died – Hallie focuses exclusively on how they lived. She also does not go into speculation about who Jack the Ripper was, and besides a cursory mention in the introduction, he is not mentioned again in the book. So if you are looking for an actual true crime book about about him, this is not it.

The five women of The Five were a fascinating group of women, most of whom fell to the circumstances of being a woman in the late 1800s – it wasn’t an easy time for women on the whole. Their backgrounds were varied, some had wealth, others poor, one an immigrant, one a pathological liar – they were all people, people with friends and families who cared about them, people who were more than just victims of a terrible crime.

One thing that did tie them all together, however, was that at the time of their deaths, they were all in some sort of destitute situation, either due to circumstances beyond their control, mental health crises, or addition. In book club we had a fascinating discussion about female freedom and oppression as well as the lack of agency women of the late Victorian era experienced and compared it to our own. We’re lucky, in book club, to have a number of generations represented by our members and our best conversations always arise when we get to discuss the different experiences we all had with feminism and sexism growing up.

The Five is a snapshot of London and the lives of the people who lived and worked there in the late 1800s. As we always do when we find a book categorized in a genre that we do not agree with, with discussed in book club where we should shelve it at the store. We made well reasoned arguments for true crime (because that’s where we found it and we may not have found it otherwise), sociology, history and biography before ultimately landing on biography. We found ourselves appreciative that Hallie Rubenhold went on the search she did to reclaim this women’s voices so we found biography to be the best fit.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the pros column:
Fantastically researched, well written, and a fascinating look at the lives of impoverished Victorian women in general. Also, well-argued -- I think Rubenhold is probably right, and these women were mostly not prostitutes. I loved the sheer variety of life trajectories that the women experienced -- you just don't get this kind of granular analysis of the lives of the struggling middle class/working class/poor for most parts of history. I'm astonished at how well documented it is.

In the cons:
Well, it's very dense. A lot of the information is kind of repetitive -- in that many of their lives followed a similar path. There's a whole lot of "the more things change, the more things stay the same" that is the main takeaway for me -- so I found it quite depressing.

On the whole, I thought it was a good read, and I appreciate the authors pro-women viewpoint.

[rosaalonso · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It has been incredibly difficult for me to finish this book.

The main idea of showing the other side of the story of Jack the Ripper, the lives of the victims, seemed very interesting to me. The problem is that it does not fulfill the entertainment function that, in my opinion, a book should serve. For me, it is very important that, in addition to providing us something, it keeps us captivated within its pages, because aside from educating us through reading, we read for the simple pleasure of enjoying it.

At the same time, the narrative contains a series of imprecise data and conjectures, overlooking, for example, the emotional aspect of the events, since it has been over a century since the main characters passed away, and filling it with the author's assumptions, as in the numerous instances where she suggests that some of the women entered into a relationship with a male companion because that was dictated by the times. Perhaps it is simpler than that and the reason they did so was because they fell in love or for any other reason we will never come to know, so we cannot let ourselves be guided by our impressions.

In the end, as the title itself indicates, it is nothing more than the narration of the lives of these five women in which nothing extraordinary happens, apart from the way their deaths occurred. Here, the analysis of the psychological profiles of the victims is interesting, because as you progress through the plot, you realize that they possess a series of common characteristics: their average age, alcoholism, overcrowding in boarding houses...

In general, I found a lack of dialogue and an excess of pages, since the descriptions of the trades and the characteristics of the era took precedence over the biographical data. Although I must admit that you learn a lot about life in 19th century London. So as a method of documentation, it is advisable, as long as it is paired with some other reading so that it doesn't become too heavy. (Translated from Spanish)

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book looks at the five (cannonical) women who were murdered by Jack the Ripper. It doesn’t look at the murders, but it is a biography of each of the women.

So, they weren’t all prostitutes. In fact, most of them weren’t. They were all, however, poor and had trouble finding money to pay for a place to sleep on many nights. Most of them were also alcoholics (well, my perception is that they were – I’m not sure the book actually says that).

In any case, I’m surprised the author was able to find as much information about them as she was. A number of years ago, I read another book that focused on the Ripper victims, but it was thin. I don’t remember it well (only the cover), and I thought I kept it, but it doesn’t look like I did, or I would have checked, but my assumption was that there just wasn’t a lot of information about five very poor girls who grew into women in the mid to late 19th century. But Rubenhold was able to find quite a bit. I was extra surprised to read about Mary Jane Kelly, but I won’t spoil it!

I listened to the audio book and my mind wandered occasionally, but not much. I was interested enough a few times to rewind, as well, so as to not miss what was just said.

[belana-990668 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an amazing book! I never spent much thought on Jack the Ripper, much less on his victims. This book is an eye-opener.
It tells the story of the lives of five very depraved women, who never had a chance from their first breath to their last. I'm in awe of the research that has gone into writing this book. Geez, I'm so glad I didn't live back then, especially not as a female.
Those poor women were being judged and condemned back then, and the myth that they were prostitutes, plus the implication that they didn't deserve better, lasts until this day and age.
Everybody should be made to read -- or better -- listen to this book. The narration was exceptional!
I'll recommend this book to everyone who'll listen, because it is such a great book.
I hadn't proceeded far, when I went to buy another book by this author. I love historical books, and this is one of the finest I've listened to in a long while.
I stumbled upon it through a review in a Swiss newspaper, got interested, and immediately bought the audio book. I hope somebody will do an audio version in German, to reach a larger audience.
This book should be widely advertised, and I hope the author gets the acknowledgement she deserves.

[debs4jc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating. This book takes the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper and gives us a detailed (in as much as they can be detailed, with what we know) biography of each women. In this way, the reader gets a focused look at the personal and societal forces that brought these women to a place of poverty and vulnerability which made them easy prey for a killer. I found these stories fascinating, yes the writer uses some dramatization and speculation to flesh the stories out, but that also made them relatable. With each woman's story there is plenty of commentary or background information given on such things as the state of London's housing for the poor or how the law treated common law marriages to help the reader understand the circumstances and choices of these women. I still found some of their choices hard to fathom, though I had the foreknowledge of their bad end and I also have never suffered from addictions or domestic abuse or the other issues that these woman had to deal with.
Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Kate and Mary Jane. I'm sure the author didn't get everything correct as she wrote their stories (who could), but I'm glad that she has made the attempt to tell their stories. It was well worth my while to read about them, more so than about the person who killed them. I would definitely recommend this book. Those who want to learn about and from history will greatly enjoy it. And those who want to think about how society treats the poor and women will find it thought provoking.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a difficult book to rate and review. is it important - yes. Is it a fun read - no. It's a bit like being hit over the head with a central thesis, which gets a bit wearing.
This sets out to remind people that Jack the Ripper actually killed people by making each of the 5 victims ascribed to him into women again, rather than letting the victim fade into insignificance. After all, to whom did the murder impact most? the victim can surely put in a claim there - this book aims to speak for each of the victims. It barely mentions JtR the whole way through, and each life story stops at the death. There is nothing further than this, which felt like a miss.
There is clearly a lot of research in here, but there is also a lot of unnecessary emoting - too much of the "X must surely have felt ...." that imposes a modern sensibility on a historic figure and detracts from the facts. And there are facts in here, but it feels that the author undermines herself here as well. There are statements that some of the coroners reports and police note were lost, but it never says which ones. So when we are reading about the facts reported at the inquest, we're not sure if these are first had or are reported in newspapers, with the likely distortion found therein.
Having said that, the central thesis, that the 5 women were not all prostitutes, as they were tarred and that they deserve to be remembered as individuals as much as their murderer is remembered is a valid surmise. I would have liked to see more about the afterlives of the women concerned, the inquest, how their family were told, their children, for instance.

[maura853 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic piece of research, drawing together the details of the lives of five ordinary, all-too-typical working class women who, were it not for the terrible circumstances of their deaths at the hands of one of history’s most notorious killers, would have remained completely anonymous and lost to history.

Fascinating, even if you have no interest whatsoever in the … what can I call it, without being rude: “mythology”? …obsession? … of Jack the Ripper. This is a window into the downward spiral of the lives of five very different women of Victorian London, who illustrate all too painfully how most working class people of that era lived on the edge of an abyss, and how one life crisis -- illness, loss of employment, death of a parent or spouse, collapse of a relationship – could plunge them headlong into destitution, homelessness, and a life in the shadows, beyond the respectability and minimal comforts they had worked so hard to enjoy.

Sound familiar? What was just as shocking as the tragedies of these five women was how familiar it all seemed. They say that every American is only one serious illness away from bankruptcy. (And having experienced the American medical system, and the scam they call health insurance, I believe it.) Britain has a better safety net, with the NHS, but homelessness and sleeping rough, reliance on foodbanks and the existence of sub-par housing (Grenfell Tower, anyone?) is a blight on the whole country, not just the big cities. There was nothing quaint or historical about Rubenhold’s descriptions of pathetic figures, roaming the streets at all hours of the night, trying to beg, borrow or steal the price of a flea-infested bed in one of the doss houses in the East End of London, until they finally collapse in a doorway from exhaustion and cold, and probably a drink to dull the pain. Wearing every article of clothing they possess, pockets stuffed with the broken bits and pieces that either remind them of the lives they once had, or might come in useful, or might be pawned for a few coppers. That could be … that is … now.

In addition to that, Rubenhold’s main thesis, that four of the five were not prostitutes is important, and necessary, and if some reviewers seem to have become tired of her “banging on about it,” … well, all I can say is … y’know, tough. After 130 years, it is something that really needed to be said – the police and media and “respectable” public of 1888 took one look at the location of the murders, the degraded living conditions of the five victims, and their gender and gleefully declared PROSTITUTES. No better than they should be. Probably flouncing around in revealing outfits, tempting poor honest boys. Deserved whatever they got.

And they were wrong. One of the murdered women was a professional sex-worker, and probably would have made no bones about it. (Interestingly, she was the final victim, whose murder MO was very different from the previous four. Which makes me wonder …) The other four were middle-aged women from a variety of respectable, working poor backgrounds, whose lives had been torn apart by alcohol, the death of loved ones, and the breakdown of family ties. At they times of their deaths they were partnered up with men they would have described as regular common-law, if often unreliable, relationships. Not … prostitutes.

And (again, an example of history depressingly repeating itself) like the Yorkshire Ripper of the 1970s, the assumptions that the police, media and public jumped to in 1888 probably tainted the investigation of the murders, and the hunt for the identity of Jack the Ripper. Rubenhold makes a very convincing case that, far from targeting “ladies of the night” (with all of the sexist baggage of over-made up hotties, wearing scanty outfits and winking seductively under gaslight streetlamps), the Ripper was probably attacking vulnerable women, who were semi-comatose from drink in doorways and down dark alleys.

(It seems that there has always been some debate in “Ripperology research” … can you believe there is such a thing? … as to whether one of the five, Elizabeth Stride, was really a victim of the Ripper, because the circumstances of her death were slightly different from the first three. But Rubenhold introduces some information about the final victim, Mary Jane Kelly -- whose death, as I said above, was very different from the MO of the other four – which suggests to me, at least, that her murder might not have been the work of Ripper either, but instead have been a copycat killing, in revenge for crossing a human trafficking network. Again, that is scarily modern.

I’ve said a lot more about this than I really meant to, but I think it has gotten under my skin – and that’s a very good thing for a book, I hope you will agree. Rubenhold’s research is amazing. Her writing is very readable. The subject – taking the spotlight from the homicidal maniac, and refocusing it on the victims, and their lives, rather than their gruesome deaths – in other words, giving them back their dignity, and their humanity -- is important.

HIGHLY recommended.

[headinherbooks_27 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Filled with so much history and focused on the women and not on Jack the Ripper. Explicitly explains the social history on women of that era. Broke my heart and angered me on how women were discriminated and belittled during that period.

[Miscelanea.lectora · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Who were the victims of Jack the Ripper? Hallie Rubenhold will tell us what is known about the five victims of this famous killer: Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.

I truly believe it is the most interesting nonfiction book I have ever read, and I will explain why. Hallie Rubenhold does an incredible job of research, not only giving us a tour of the lives of these five women but also attaching evidence of what is recounted, such as photographs or newspaper clippings. She provides an impressive introduction to the historical context, presenting data that was completely unknown to me about life in the 19th century. The way it is told is addictive; I usually don’t read nonfiction books because I find it hard to get into the story, but with this one, it was exactly the opposite. And of course, the best part is the author's analysis of how society has glorified (and continues to do so) the killer as a celebrity and how his victims were relegated to mere dead prostitutes in alleys. I believe she does a brilliant and necessary job in honoring the memory of these women, who, although they likely did not have the best lives, did not deserve that simplification of events. I totally recommend that you read it; I am sure you will learn a lot. (Translated from Spanish)