You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Really enjoyed this one. Not only a closer look at the victims of history's most infamous unsolved murders, but a humanization of them. Rubenhold also delves into the social history of being working-class in Victorian England, which was absolutely fascinating to me. It's quite obvious, given how precarious life was for women in the working class, that these women weren't just prostitutes, or homeless and jobless. They were complicated and interesting women with lives that were both happy and tragic. Highly recommended.
I didn’t know much about Jack the Ripper except that he was an early serial killer that targeted prostitutes. Rubenhold takes that common knowledge and flips it on its head. She humanizes the 5 canonical victims of Jack the Ripper. She challenges the perception that these women were sex workers. She illustrates what life would have looked like for each of those women. In doing so, she makes the story of a serial killer into the story of his victims. Jack the Ripper is barely mentioned and the women’s deaths are not described in any detail. But their lives are given attention and acknowledgment. I’m so impressed with the respect shown to these women and I’m so grateful that authors like Rubenhold exist and do this work.
informative
sad
slow-paced
I was excited to read this book given my interest in Jack the Ripper since I was a teenager but it was DNF. I felt this author had a narrative she wished to tell - "the victims weren't all prostitutes" and then told a story to suit that narrative. I only read the first 2 victims stories, before I put this book aside because she seemed to push her view that the victims were from "good" and "respectable" families, as if somehow being a prostitute means you aren't worthy of as much empathy if you are murdered. Whilst it seemed well researched and I liked the inclusion of the cultural and societal values and attitudes to women at times the author's own values, feelings and assumptions came through. Good non-fiction writers can make their work engaging by sticking with facts and not assumptions! I also felt at times the author was patronising. The victim's stories were enough on their own without feeling as a reader that the author was telling me what I needed to feel and think about these women, and tried so hard to demonstrate they weren't prostitutes (as if it matters!) to have our respect.
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Trafficking, Classism
Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual violence