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The Five

The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

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The Five

Written by: Hallie Rubenhold
Narrated by: Louise Brealey
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About this listen

Five devastating human stories and a dark and moving portrait of Victorian London - the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper.

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 keen to tell us that "the Ripper" preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, but it has prevented the 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 just 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.

©2019 Hallie Rubenhold (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Great Britain True Crime Women England Thought-Provoking Victorian True Crime

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Such an Education!!!!

The biggest crime these people had was being a woman…..horrible outcomes from being abandoned!! With children no less. Not well protected by anyone, no where to go, no one to help….God Bless them…..

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love it love it

I have been waiting forever it seems for a biography about the victims of Jacky boy. So interesting, moving and beautiful the way these woman lived. Their lives mattered no matter where they came from or how they lived. R.I.P. FIVE P. A. E. C.M

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Excellent!

Amongst the plethora of Ripper information, this book stands out as an important antidote to the gruesome murders. With her careful research and beautiful writing style, Ms. Rubenhold transforms the five women from dismissed "prostitutes" into real life women with hopes, dreams, families and shortcomings, i.e. human beings who deserve to be remembered far more than the monster who killed them.

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A Must Read

What an incredible book . It truly gives you an inside look at what it was like to be a woman of that era in London. I am so glad I listened to it and came to know the true story of the Rippers victims.

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Thought Provoking

This story went leaps and bounds past what I thought it would be. I went into reading this book with only faint knowledge of Jack the Ripper and even less of his victims.

In listening to the lives of the 5 victims I cried and felt angry at how unfair and unjustly their lives and deaths were assessed in their day and beyond. It also showed me how little really has changed in women’s lives and how we are treated. I feel quite emotionally drained at the end of it, which is not only a compliment to the author in writing so vividly.

This book is a must read to anyone who wishes to see past the typical retold stories of Jack the Ripper and know the humanity and life of those lives he deemed replaceable.

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Amazing History Lesson

This is one of the best books I have listened to this year.
It was well written with lots of details and the delve into the lives of the 5 made the listen that much more interesting.

The narration was fantastic.
I didn't want the book to end

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history in time of JR

This was a full history of not only the women but also the time in which it occurred. It was thought Provoking and well written. It keeps interest. And gives a whole new look on not only the murder victims but how women are treated in society today and yesteryear’s

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Bingeworthy

A fascinating and informative look at Victorian society with a hint of true crime. Incredibly well-written and researched, with beautiful narration. Very easy to listen to. I consider myself to be fairly well educated on the Ripper case, and this book provides such an insightful look at the women who are just names and victims in most literature on the subject. It also gives a brutally accurate depiction of the lives of the working class and the impoverished from the mid-late 19th century. I could not stop listening to this one - I was hooked from the first chapter.

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The Victims are Finally Given Their Voices

Nothing negative about the book itself! Fabulous research, the women’s stories feel as personal as possible given how little unadulterated fact may exist about their lives, and without too much conjecture when necessary to fill in the gaps or assume motive. The conclusion is perfection; it makes the purpose of the book perfectly clear and is a wonderful cap on the experience, bringing some emotional catharsis to a somewhat depressing reading experience. (Not depressing in a negative sense! Just, based on the way these women’s lives were punished by society and cruelly ended, you can’t help but be furious and deeply saddened.)
However, I read this alongside listening to the audiobook, and notes at the bottom of a number of pages are not read out loud here. They appear to be omitted entirely. Not all the notes are essential but some clarify small details, and it’s a bit odd that they seem to be removed completely.

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5 women who finally get to show us who they were

The author painted a very detailed picture of, not only the lives of the five women who were killed by Jack the Ripper, but also the era in which they lived, loved, survived and ultimately died. The research required to tease out the details for tracing the footsteps of these women was remarkable. Thank you Hallie for bringing these women to life and giving them a voice.

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