A review by rellimreads
The Five: The Lives of Jack the Ripper's Women by Hallie Rubenhold

5.0

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 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.