Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: HMH Books, 2019
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend
Synopsis: Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, 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 coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-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 keep to tell us that "The Ripper" preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historical Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, it has prevented teh 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 juts 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 a woman.
Review: This book had been on my "to read" list since before it was published. It sounded different, and interesting. Unfortunately, it's a long book for the material the author was able to uncover. She had to make assumptions and fill in the blanks frequently. However, her thesis was developed well, and the "Conclusion" contained some hard-hitting facts and food for thought.
A handful of serial killers will never be forgotten, and certainly Jack the Ripper has become a celebrity. This author relegated Jack the Ripper to a mere criminal, and highlighted the lives of the victims. Really well done.
Not one of the best books I've read this year, but certainly one I'm glad to have read.
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