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, Elisabeth, 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 coffeehouses, lived on country estates; they … 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, 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 women.
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I enjoyed this much much more than I thought I would. I decided to read it for a book club and it involved Jack the Ripper. The book barley mentions him for this is about the lives of these poor women. I found myself being emotionally attached to the women. I’m amazed by all the research the author did for this book.
The Five has a compelling concept at its heart. That the mystery of the Whitechapel murders begin and end with the identity of the women taken, rather than the murderer. The research is amazing and meticulous, but what caught my interest was the author’s viewpoint when she did her research. She did not begin with the assumption that these women were props, were titillating, were “dirty” or deserving of the violence inflicted on them simply because they were poor. She began with the assumption that these women were human beings who lived, loved, laughed, danced, ate and cried. Rubenhold solidifies some of my growing unease with the suspense and murder mystery genre. I appreciate the enormous amount of work that went into this book and I highly recommend it.
Such a well-written, well-researched account highlighting the women behind the numbers. What got me the most about this one was how some of the inequalities of that time are still very much present nowadays. Truly haunting.
I was honestly expecting to be bored with this book due to the fact that it was a history book, but the author writing is brilliant and draws you in with the humanization of the five victims of Jack the Ripper.
This was an engaging listen that gripped me from the first minutes to the last. I admit to knowing very little about Ripper lore or anything about the time period & location beyond what this book asserts that most people think they know – all of his victims were prostitutes. What I particularly enjoyed that is that Hallie Rubenhold proves through public records (much was readily available to the sensationalist media of the time) that not all of these women were prostitutes – while simultaneously honoring that no matter their background or circumstance they did not deserve to be dismissed, maligned, or in another way held responsible for being in a location to be murdered.
What this book does not include, nor does it claim to, is any belabored descriptions of the murders or positing of who Jack the Ripper actually was. Rubenhold gives complete yet enthralling biographies of Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary-Jane. While I superficially knew of some of the hardships of being a woman in the late 1800’s, at the end I no choice but to acknowledge what a miracle it was that any woman born to their stations managed to survive with a fulfilling life.
I am haunted and saddened by these lives taken and so grateful their stories and history were told.
Louise Brealey’s narration was impeccable. She gave an added level of compassion and emphasis where appropriate.
Such an amazing book. It’s non-fiction but beautifully written. Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane weren’t just Ripper victims – they lived, loved and have their own, often very sad, stories to tell. I love how Hallie Rubenhold has given them a voice. You owe it to these 5 women to read this book – it will make you think differently about the events of 1888.
Highly readable account of the actual lives of the 5 canonical women whom the Ripper murdered. These women had unbelievably tragic and difficult lives, and nearly all of them were not the usual “what you’ve been told they were”. I loved this book and couldn’t put it down.
I was well educated by this book as to the time period of Jack the Ripper in London. Grateful the author took the time to fully investigate each of the women’s lives and tell their story. So much tragedy from “living rough” in that time period. So much hardship for each of these women. Thank you for telling their story and bringing it to light. It isn’t about Jack the Ripper but the women killed by him.
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold is a comprehensive look at the five victims of Jack the Ripper during the ‘autumn of terror’ in 1888.
Hallie Rubenhold has brought the women to life as she has examined their lives from birth onwards and presented her findings. The women were so much more than just the Ripper’s victims. They were wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.
We hear so much speculation about Jack the Ripper but we largely forget about his victims, lumping them together as women of the night, drunkards, living in poverty. And yes, while some of these labels may apply, we must remember that these victims were women first. Yes they did live in poverty but so did millions of others. Yes, drink was a problem in the nineteenth century and yes they may have turned to prostitution as a means to survive but that is no reason to kill them. These women were victims of circumstance, living in poverty, doing what they had to, to survive. They did not deserve to have their lives snuffed out.
I found the book fascinating. It was good to get to know the women, so they are more than just a collection of names. I can thoroughly recommend The Five.
As an aside: I was amazed to see my ancestor on my Dad’s side mentioned on p.245- 246 – William Perry, the Tipton Slasher and bare knuckle champion of all England – and my great great grandfather’s brother.
I won a free trade paperback ARC of this excellent history on February 15, 2020, the life stories of the victims of Jack the Ripper, from Goodreads, Hallie Rubenhold, Black Swan publisher, and Marinerbooks.com. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
I can only hope that this work is widely read and taken to heart. Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane were vibrant, hard-working, downtrodden women doing the best that they could in a world that did not recognize their worth. Read this book. See these ladies as they were – merely women, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Women cut down by a vicious but very lucky misogynist code-named Jack, who was set on a pedestal by the press, rather than on a trapdoor by the hangman.
There is a tremendous amount of research involved in this work. I take my hat off to Hallie Rubenhold. She paints a thorough, detailed picture of the world of Whitechapel in the late 1880s. She brings us into the intimate lives of these five women, tarred with the brush of prostitution and all judged as worthless in the press and in the courts. Women alone, struggling to make their way in a world greatly prejudiced against womankind in general and delegating poor women as disposable, non-humans, creatures not worthy of justice.
With her words, Rubenhold gives these women a voice, and a justice belatedly granted as we see them as they were, poor women, alone in a world that was run by and for men only. In England and most other countries of that time, it was not possible for even an educated woman to earn enough to support herself much less herself and her children. Most girls were not educated at all as their worth was deemed best spent in the kitchen and bedroom.
And even in America, land of the free, we do not receive equal pay for equal work even today. Things have changed, but not nearly enough.
This book delves into the real lives of the canonical victims of Jack the Ripper. The women were very unlike the caricatures that have been created about them. The common misperception is a product of the time and our own biases about women’s behavior. As the author puts it: “Labeling the victims as “just prostitutes” permits those writing about Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane even today to continue to disparage, sexualize, and dehumanize them; to continue to reinforce the values of madonna/ whore.”
While the murderer has achieved immortality, his victims are used as a cautionary tale against women “behaving badly.” He became an icon of sorts and they, 5 of the most famous “dead girls,” are not at all who we thought they were.
One of the best works of historical nonfiction I’ve read. Rubenhold’s research brings to life the victims of Jack the Ripper, giving a beautifully rounded portrait of each of these five women — not all of whom were prostitutes, as the popular narrative insists — and the societal factors that drove them to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Compelling, intelligent, powerful.
Heartbreaking. Sheds new light on the lives of women who have been overlooked and dismissed for far too long.
Hallie Rubenhold’s “The Five” is no ordinary book on “Jack the Ripper”, the infamous Whitechapel serial killer from 1888.
Jack the Ripper had five (5) canonical victims. He started killing at the end of August, with no known pattern or motives, and suddenly stopped around the first part of November. The true identity has never been discovered and neither has his motive. There has been nothing to explain why he started and why he ended.
Perhaps that is why there is more focus on him than the victims. In order to understand why they were chosen, we need to learn his motives – which are unlikely to ever happen.
But, rather than focus on the motive, the killer, or the investigation itself; Rubenhold takes a different perspective – the victims. Who were they? Were they really prostitutes, or were they disadvantaged women caught in the crosshairs of a serial killer. Only two of the five could be considered prostitutes, in actuality, only Mary Jane Kelly listed that as a profession.
The reader is able to piece together the victim’s life from childhood (or as close as possible) up until the time they were reported as deceased and/or buried. Each victim’s “past” is uncovered and revealed, thus humanizing them rather than making them statistics, attempting to bring back some of their dignity –
Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols
Annie Chapman
Elisabeth Stride
Catherine Eddowes
Mary Jane Kelly
The book doesn’t discuss the grotesque details of the victim’s death – there is enough material out there. The author is careful not to place emphasis on Jack the Ripper at all, barely naming him. Rubenhold had seen that made the women merely corpses and thus dehumanizing them. The book isn’t just about the victims, but for the victims, complete with a dedication in the front to them.
Misogyny and gender are heavily mentioned as contributing factors in the deaths of the women by critiquing the standards and realities of living back in the mid-late 1800’s. Much is made of the inequality of what men were permitted to do or get by with as opposed to women. Women were treated less than men – expecting to eat less if there was little food to go around; be more pious and virtuous while men could have outside encounters with little to no chastising; barely educated; and of course, child-bearing.
While the treatment of women and lifestyle from that time would be abhorrent by today’s ideals, one cannot apply today’s standards to a decade ago, or even 200 years ago.
Even in the blurb inside the front cover, “their greatest misfortune was to be born women”, the tone seems slightly biased. The author also describes the laws that often governed prostitutes or any woman described with “lecherous living”. And, while the laws are archaic by today’s standards – therein lies the problem. Today’s standards are used to compare the laws, moral attitudes, as well as expectations while we read about the lives of these women.
That is one of the problems with this book. It isn’t entirely the author’s fault. Not having lived in that time, it is difficult to understand that life or see it as normal. Yes, women were not nearly as equal as men were.
Many of the victims were what was referred to as “fallen women” – drunks, morally questionable, etc. They didn’t start out that way though – however in each case, save for the last one, there was always some kind of domestic issues at home that led to the final years of the victim’s life at and/or nearly homeless.
Many became homeless because of either excessive drinking or inability to care for their large families. This was true of many of the poor women of the time. There were women who were just as poor who didn’t fall victim to Jack the Ripper, and some women who had large families didn’t drink. One woman was a victim of what today is called “human trafficking”.
Their past – whatever it was – in no way excuses their murders though. That much needs to be said. Sex workers or not, whoever they were, wherever they came from – they didn’t deserve to die.
The book is well researched, though there are times I believe there was too much information presented.
This is much a societal history lesson as a book with a different focus of the 1888 Whitechapel murders. But, there is quite a bit of conjecture as well as speculation in the book, and thus should be taken at face value.
Critics have thrown out that Rubenhold has tried to make the Whitechapel Victims part of the #MeToo era, which the author denies as #MeToo hadn’t happened when she started writing the book. However, there is a definitely a “slant” in the tone of the book.
It should be read along with the other Jack the Ripper novels and material out there to get a complete picture. Depending on how well vested someone is in this subject, the book can drag on. One reviewer stated that reading it was like “wading through mud”.
Given the type of book it was, and how it was written – I was able to finish it within a week, though there were some nights I didn’t bother to read it.
Thankfully my local library had a copy of this novel to borrow. The three stars are for “it was ok” and yes, it was an “ok” read for the subject material.
Competently written and researched, though I challenge some points and question others…speculation becomes verse and that’s just not the case. Not original either, the lives of canonical 5 have been detailed in dozens of other excellent Ripper tomes. I didn’t learn anything new.
Too many hypotheticals
Fast OK read
The Five is a book that tells the story of the five victims of Jack the Ripper. Only this book is different. Our author, Hallie Rubenhold, wants to dispose of old misconceptions about the murders. Researching the conditions in 1888 and the impoverished conditions in which so much of London’s population lived at the time, especially in the Whitechapel area, she states that many of the original theories were inaccurate. For example, she dispels the idea that all of the victims were prostitutes.
In this book, Rubenhold portrays each individual life and the circumstances under which Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane lived. Victims of their ties, they dealt with the extreme poverty and the unfairness of being a woman in that epoch. They are very much results and reflections of their times.
This well-researched historical account of what is more likely to have been the true story of these sensationalized victims is interesting and it takes us back in time to an unglorified more realistic 1888.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
I just finished reading The Five by Hallie Rubenhold. This book consists of a group of mini-biographies of the five women who were the victims of Jack the Ripper in the autumn of 1888 London. It’s a great portrait of that particular era as it was experienced by working class women and those whose lives were destroyed by poverty, homelessness and alcoholism. Ms. Rubenhold did wonderful job researching and portraying the varied lives of these five women who have always been lumped together as drunks and prostitutes while at the same time holding the lure of the Ripper story itself at arm’s length. It’s an easy and fascinating read.
Devastatingly good. The Five will leave you in tears, of pity and of rage.