Jack the Ripper has become one of the most famous British serial killers of all time. His victims, however, have been lost, overshadowed by the desire to uncover who this mysterious killing machine is.
Historian Hallie Rubenhold brings these victims, these women, back to life. Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane were mothers, sisters, daughters and wives, whose lives have been defined by their death. The Five sets the record straight and gives these women their voices and stories back.
If you had asked me how much I knew about the victims of Jack the Ripper before I read The Five, my answer would have been incredibly short. Thankfully, this book has resolved this issue, and also corrected any misconceptions about their past. Most of us have been told that these women were prostitutes, but in fact, only 2 out of the 5 have ever been identified as working in the sex trade. This shows how much we need this book to share the true story of these victims.
The book is divided into five parts, each dedicated to one of the women. Hallie Rubenhold describes in amazing detail where these women were born, their childhood and upbringing, and then their adult lives. What I particularly liked is that Rubenhold hardly mentions Jack the Ripper or their murders – this book is about the victims, and this is made abundantly clear throughout.
A lot of the information Rubenhold shares is guess-work as no one at the time bothered to look into these women, making it extremely difficult to paint a 100% image of these women and exactly why they were in Whitechapel in 1888. But this also means the reader gets a really good sense of how these women would have lived and how women in the Victorian period survived in general.
It becomes pretty clear that these women stood very little chance against a society which made it almost impossible for women to survive without men. Anything that today would seem quite normal, like drinking, sleeping with multiple partners or having a child outside of marriage would have completely ruined a woman’s image, automatically deeming her a ‘fallen woman’ or an outcast. I couldn’t believe that a woman had to prove her husband was guilty of adultery in addition to another crime, such as incest, rape or abuse to get a divorce, whereas men did not.
This book is quite a heavy and gloomy read, but one that’s extremely important. I’m glad that I now know the names Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane and their stories. Yes, they were victims, but above all, they were people.
Favourite quotes:
“The bold, free look of a man at a destitute woman must be felt to be realised.” Mary Higgs
“Society was designed to ensure that a woman without a man was superfluous.”
“The victims of Jack the Ripper were never ‘just prostitutes’; they were daughters, wives, mothers, sisters and lovers. They were women. They were human beings, and surely that, in itself, is enough.”