Reviews - The Five: The Lives of Jack the Ripper's Women

4.71k reviews for:

The Five: The Lives of Jack the Ripper's Women

Hallie Rubenhold

4.18 AVERAGE

marsreader's review against another edition

4.5

dark informative sad fast-paced

Amazing writing and archival research to illuminate the lives of these women and challenge the assumptions that have been made about them.

amymcphrsn's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

annabtlr's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

readwithsoph's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

The Five is way more than a true crime book it’s a reclamation. Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane were real women, not just footnotes in a killer’s story. Hallie Rubenhold gives them back their voices with care and honesty. These women weren’t “fallen” or disposable they survived poverty, violence, trauma, and a society that judged and abandoned them.

What really hit me is how little has actually changed. Women today still get blamed for the abuse they suffer, still get boxed into stereotypes, still get erased from their own stories. This book holds a mirror up to both history and now and reminds us dignity shouldn’t be something women only get after they’re dead.