3.0 (1 rating)
The Five
"The untold story of the women killed by Jack the Ripper--and a gripping portrait of Victorian London--[this book] changes the narrative of these murders forever. Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from some of London's wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods, from the factory towns of middle England, and from Wales and Sweden. They wrote ballads, ran coffeehouses, lived on country estates; they breathed ink dust from printing presses and escaped human 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, by drawing on a wealth of formerly unseen archival material and adding full historical context to the victims' 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 women."--Jacket.
Pages: 368
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3.0
1 rating
Beth .
Mar 15, 2026
I read a lot of fiction, and every couple of books I like to throw in a nonfiction, or biography, or something that isn’t completely made up, just to stay somewhat well-rounded. I feel bad rating this a 3 star because it was very informative, and I learned way more than I ever thought I would about these victims, however, it was so dry and it dragged in places so much so that I don’t know how many people would truly enjoy it. Perhaps true “Ripperologists†which I am not. It is not a fun read, and it wasn’t meant to be. A 4 star for me is a book I personally recommend. So 3 it is, and I think that’s fair. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if it had been a podcast (Crime Junkie would’ve nailed it.)
The Five tells the story of the 5 canonical victims of Jack the Ripper. And it’s bleak. These women have been categorized as prostitutes in everything I’d ever read, however, at least half of them weren’t. One of them might not have even been a victim of Jack. They were down on their luck women who left unhappy marriages and succumbed to alcohol to numb the drudgery and misery of their everyday lives. They were all one of many children and went on to have many of their own- at least half of their siblings and own children didn’t survive just because of the time period and lack of clean water, lodgings, and medical care. When the kids didn’t survive, the husbands strayed or worked themselves to death, and the wives took to alcohol. They ended up in workhouses or disgusting, vermin infested boarding houses, or out on the streets, making them easy targets. These women were all in their 40s, not young wild women, and all appear to have been killed in their sleep.
The book starts each victim’s story with their birth and family life- leaving no detail untold- and continues through their deaths. I don’t think I’ve ever realized how hard life was in regular, non Bridgerton London. It was more Sweeney Todd than Society for the non gentry.
Could everything we think we know about JTR be wrong? Or should I say, is anything we have been told via movies/sensationalized books correct? This book would have us think not.
The Five tells the story of the 5 canonical victims of Jack the Ripper. And it’s bleak. These women have been categorized as prostitutes in everything I’d ever read, however, at least half of them weren’t. One of them might not have even been a victim of Jack. They were down on their luck women who left unhappy marriages and succumbed to alcohol to numb the drudgery and misery of their everyday lives. They were all one of many children and went on to have many of their own- at least half of their siblings and own children didn’t survive just because of the time period and lack of clean water, lodgings, and medical care. When the kids didn’t survive, the husbands strayed or worked themselves to death, and the wives took to alcohol. They ended up in workhouses or disgusting, vermin infested boarding houses, or out on the streets, making them easy targets. These women were all in their 40s, not young wild women, and all appear to have been killed in their sleep.
The book starts each victim’s story with their birth and family life- leaving no detail untold- and continues through their deaths. I don’t think I’ve ever realized how hard life was in regular, non Bridgerton London. It was more Sweeney Todd than Society for the non gentry.
Could everything we think we know about JTR be wrong? Or should I say, is anything we have been told via movies/sensationalized books correct? This book would have us think not.