Listen free for 30 days
-
The Five
- The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
- Narrated by: Louise Brealey
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $22.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
You may also enjoy...
-
Chase Darkness with Me
- How One True Crime Writer Started Solving Murders
- Written by: Billy Jensen, Karen Kilgariff - foreword
- Narrated by: Karen Kilgariff, Billy Jensen
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Chase Darkness with Me, you’ll ride shotgun as journalist Billy Jensen identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You’ll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle’s pursuit of the Golden State Killer which is chronicled in I’ll Be Gone In The Dark which Billy helped finish after Michelle’s passing, and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown 4 family.
-
-
True Crime with So Much Heart
- By Taylor on 2019-04-16
Written by: Billy Jensen, and others
-
Things Past Telling
- A Novel
- Written by: Sheila Williams
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in West Africa in the mid-eighteenth century, Maryam Prescilla Grace—a.k.a “Momma Grace” will live a long, wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity, and love. Though she will be “gifted” various names, her birth name is known to her alone. Over the course of 100-plus years, she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only eleven years of age, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator.
-
-
Loved it
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-08-28
Written by: Sheila Williams
-
The Couple in the Cabin
- Written by: Daniel Hurst
- Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton, Matt Bates
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When happily married Grace comes home early one night and catches her husband, Dominic, with another woman in the cabin at the bottom of their garden, she is shocked, angry, and most of all, hell-bent on revenge. That’s why she acts quickly, locking the pair in the cabin while she decides what she wants to do to them.
-
-
First audible
- By Tim olson on 2022-11-15
Written by: Daniel Hurst
-
The Murder Rule
- A Novel
- Written by: Dervla McTiernan
- Narrated by: Kate Orsini, Sophie Amoss, Michael Crouch
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a mother daughter story—one running from a horrible truth, and the other fighting to reveal it—that twists and turns in shocking ways, from the internationally bestselling author of The Scholar and The Ruin.
-
-
Very good book !
- By Patrick Berard on 2023-07-20
Written by: Dervla McTiernan
-
1st To Die: Booktrack Edition
- Written by: James Patterson
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine a killer who thinks, "What is the worst thing anyone has ever done?"—and then goes far beyond it. Now imagine four women—a police detective, an assistant DA, a reporter, and a medical examiner—who join forces as they sidestep their bosses to track down criminals. Known as the Women's Murder Club, they are pursuing a murderer whose twisted imagination has stunned an entire city. Their chief suspect is a socially prominent writer, but the men in charge won't touch him. On the trail of the most terrifying and unexpected killer ever, they discover a shocking surprise.
-
-
Music!
- By Lisa S on 2019-01-14
Written by: James Patterson
-
This Is Going to Hurt
- Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor
- Written by: Adam Kay
- Narrated by: Adam Kay
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships. Welcome to the life of a first-year doctor. Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights, and missed weekends, comedian and former medical resident Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the front lines of medicine.
-
-
Must read
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-11-08
Written by: Adam Kay
-
Chase Darkness with Me
- How One True Crime Writer Started Solving Murders
- Written by: Billy Jensen, Karen Kilgariff - foreword
- Narrated by: Karen Kilgariff, Billy Jensen
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Chase Darkness with Me, you’ll ride shotgun as journalist Billy Jensen identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You’ll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle’s pursuit of the Golden State Killer which is chronicled in I’ll Be Gone In The Dark which Billy helped finish after Michelle’s passing, and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown 4 family.
-
-
True Crime with So Much Heart
- By Taylor on 2019-04-16
Written by: Billy Jensen, and others
-
Things Past Telling
- A Novel
- Written by: Sheila Williams
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in West Africa in the mid-eighteenth century, Maryam Prescilla Grace—a.k.a “Momma Grace” will live a long, wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity, and love. Though she will be “gifted” various names, her birth name is known to her alone. Over the course of 100-plus years, she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only eleven years of age, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator.
-
-
Loved it
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-08-28
Written by: Sheila Williams
-
The Couple in the Cabin
- Written by: Daniel Hurst
- Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton, Matt Bates
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When happily married Grace comes home early one night and catches her husband, Dominic, with another woman in the cabin at the bottom of their garden, she is shocked, angry, and most of all, hell-bent on revenge. That’s why she acts quickly, locking the pair in the cabin while she decides what she wants to do to them.
-
-
First audible
- By Tim olson on 2022-11-15
Written by: Daniel Hurst
-
The Murder Rule
- A Novel
- Written by: Dervla McTiernan
- Narrated by: Kate Orsini, Sophie Amoss, Michael Crouch
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a mother daughter story—one running from a horrible truth, and the other fighting to reveal it—that twists and turns in shocking ways, from the internationally bestselling author of The Scholar and The Ruin.
-
-
Very good book !
- By Patrick Berard on 2023-07-20
Written by: Dervla McTiernan
-
1st To Die: Booktrack Edition
- Written by: James Patterson
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine a killer who thinks, "What is the worst thing anyone has ever done?"—and then goes far beyond it. Now imagine four women—a police detective, an assistant DA, a reporter, and a medical examiner—who join forces as they sidestep their bosses to track down criminals. Known as the Women's Murder Club, they are pursuing a murderer whose twisted imagination has stunned an entire city. Their chief suspect is a socially prominent writer, but the men in charge won't touch him. On the trail of the most terrifying and unexpected killer ever, they discover a shocking surprise.
-
-
Music!
- By Lisa S on 2019-01-14
Written by: James Patterson
-
This Is Going to Hurt
- Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor
- Written by: Adam Kay
- Narrated by: Adam Kay
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships. Welcome to the life of a first-year doctor. Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights, and missed weekends, comedian and former medical resident Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the front lines of medicine.
-
-
Must read
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-11-08
Written by: Adam Kay
-
1st Case
- Written by: James Patterson, Chris Tebbetts
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Angela's graduate school days at MIT come to an abrupt end when she uses her hacking skills on another student's computer. Yet her mentor, Eve Abajian, arranges a new beginning for her - as an intern in FBI's Boston field office. Her new supervisor, Assistant Special Agent in Charge William Keats, one of only two agents in the Northeast to make his rank before the age of 30, sees in Angela a fellow prodigy. But Angela's skills come with a natural curiosity, which is also a dangerous liability.
-
-
about time
- By Anonymous User on 2020-12-11
Written by: James Patterson, and others
-
A Woman of Endurance
- A Novel
- Written by: Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
- Narrated by: Tracey Leigh
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Woman of Endurance, set in nineteenth-century Puerto Rican plantation society, follows Pola, a deeply spiritual African woman who is captured and later sold for the purpose of breeding future slaves. The resulting babies are taken from her as soon as they are born. Pola loses the faith that has guided her and becomes embittered and defensive. The dehumanizing violence of her life almost destroys her. But this is not a novel of defeat but rather one of survival, regeneration, and reclamation of common humanity.
-
-
RIVETING
- By Nano on 2023-03-16
Written by: Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
-
More Better Deals
- Written by: Joe R. Lansdale
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ed Edwards is in the used-car business, a business built on adjusted odometers, extra-fine print, and the belief that "buyers better beware". Burdened by an aging, alcoholic mother constantly on his case to do something worthier of his lighter skin tone and dreaming of a brighter future for himself and his plucky little sister, Ed is ready to get out of the game. When Dave, his lazy, grease-stained boss at the eponymous dealership Smiling Dave's sends him to repossess a Cadillac, Ed finally gets the chance to escape his miserable life.
-
-
bit of a wild ride
- By Lesli on 2023-08-24
Written by: Joe R. Lansdale
-
Nowhere for Very Long
- The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life
- Written by: Brianna Madia
- Narrated by: Brianna Madia
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this beautifully written, vividly detailed memoir, a young woman chronicles her adventures traveling across the deserts of the American West in an orange van named Bertha and reflects on an unconventional approach to life
-
-
I wish I had purchased the physical book
- By Fernanda B. on 2022-07-11
Written by: Brianna Madia
-
Never Ask Me
- Written by: Jeff Abbott
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett, Will Collyer, Peter Giles, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Each of us has a question we dread. When the simple community of Lakehaven is shaken by a violent crime, doubts begin to arise among the locals about whom they can trust.
Written by: Jeff Abbott
-
The Gift
- Written by: Sebastian Fitzek
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Con man Milan Berg has a photographic memory. But he’s hiding a secret: He can’t read. Unable to interpret the world around him, Milan finds increasingly crafty ways to navigate it. That is, until he comes across a car in traffic with a girl in the back seat. She desperately holds a written note up to the window, but what does it say? Fearing the girl is in mortal danger, Milan determines to search for her. As he follows a series of clues, each darker and scarier than the next, he’s thrust into a nightmarish odyssey with a deepening, disturbing progression: The clues are tied to his past.
-
-
Disastrous mess
- By Budb on 2023-05-24
Written by: Sebastian Fitzek
-
Pandora's Jar
- Women in the Greek Myths
- Written by: Natalie Haynes
- Narrated by: Natalie Haynes
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tellers of Greek myths—historically men—have routinely sidelined the female characters. When they do take a larger role, women are often portrayed as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil—like Pandora, the woman of eternal scorn and damnation whose curiosity is tasked with causing all the world’s suffering and wickedness when she opened that forbidden box. But, as Natalie Haynes reveals, in ancient Greek myths there was no box. It was a jar . . . which is far more likely to tip over.
-
-
Fan freaking tasting
- By loralou on 2023-05-19
Written by: Natalie Haynes
-
The Invincible Miss Cust
- A Novel
- Written by: Penny Haw
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aleen Cust has big dreams. And no one―not her family, society, or the law―will stop her. Born in Ireland in 1868 to an aristocratic English family, Aleen knows she is destined to work with animals, even if her family is appalled by the idea of a woman pursuing a veterinary career. Going against their wishes but with the encouragement of the guardian assigned to her upon her father’s death, Aleen attends the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh, enrolling as A. I. Custance to spare her family the humiliation they fear.
-
-
Female pioneer in the veterinary field
- By Chicshiraz55 on 2023-01-12
Written by: Penny Haw
-
The Bitter Past
- Sheriff Porter Beck, Book 1
- Written by: Bruce Borgos
- Narrated by: James Babson
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Porter Beck is the sheriff in the high desert of Nevada, north of Las Vegas. Born and raised there, he left to join the Army, where he worked in Intelligence, deep in the shadows in far off places. Now he's back home, doing the same lawman's job his father once did, before his father started to develop dementia. All is relatively quiet in this corner of the world, until on old, retired FBI agent is found killed. He was brutally tortured before he was killed and clues at the scene point to a mystery dating back to the early days of the nuclear age.
-
-
A Great Discovery
- By snowpatch100 on 2023-12-28
Written by: Bruce Borgos
-
The Daughters of Block Island
- A Novel
- Written by: Christa Carmen
- Narrated by: Linda Jones
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After arriving on Block Island to find her birth mother, Blake Bronson becomes convinced she’s the heroine of a gothic novel—the kind that allowed her intermittent escape from a traumatic childhood. How else to explain the torrential rain, the salt-worn mansion known as White Hall, and the restless ghost purported to haunt its halls? But before Blake can discern the novel’s ending, she’s found dead, murdered in a claw-foot tub. The proprietress of White Hall stands accused.
-
-
so infuriatingly silly and implausible
- By Northern AB Sunshine on 2024-04-16
Written by: Christa Carmen
-
The Overnight Guest
- Written by: Heather Gudenkauf
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn’t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.
-
-
Loved it
- By Erin DeLong on 2023-03-17
Written by: Heather Gudenkauf
-
Dead of Winter
- Written by: Darcy Coates
- Narrated by: Emily Ellet
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm. She couldn't be more wrong. Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing...only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport...and they're far from finished.
-
-
An actual whodunnit!
- By Anonymous User on 2024-01-15
Written by: Darcy Coates
Publisher's Summary
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.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Five
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2019-12-13
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
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J Moody
- 2022-01-03
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…..
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stephanie Lynn
- 2021-03-13
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah
- 2022-02-14
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Megan Edmunds
- 2019-10-28
Fabulous look at real Victorian life
Wonderful writing and a great look at what Victorian life was really like for many. Hallie’s writing makes you genuinely feel sad for these women, the struggles and social pressures they endured. Wonderful book, and I can’t wait to read her next one!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C.Meta
- 2021-10-24
Excellent view on the Truth of the 'Five'
These women were all 'vulnerable human beings', either homeless or poverty stricken, not prostitutes, that his how the police, and the media portrayed them in Victorian times. The Author does provide an accurate lens on the truth of their actual lives, and she shows how the police and the media influenced the lack of concern anyone - society in general at - should have for these women at that time. It also reflected that the police did not need to have to search for any suspects, nor was there was a need to hold anyone accountable for the murders of these women. Thus 'Jack the Ripper' became famous. If this was that book I would not have wasted my time. I am glad I bought this book and I will look for more audible books by this Author.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RS
- 2022-04-07
Blown away by the amazing details
This author is amazing. She took the mundane and made it interesting. She also was very dedicated to making this book about the women and very little discussed about the Ripper. This book is likely to be the best book I read for the year 2022!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Karen
- 2023-05-16
Stories that needed to be told
This book was excellent. You don't have to be a true crime aficionado to be fascinated with the story of Jack the Ripper, and to have watched tv shows and read books about his crimes, over the years. The problem with all those shows and books, to date, has been that they have focused on the criminal. Most of them are speculations about his identity, and retellings of the crimes and investigations from the perspective of the authorities at the time.
The author, Hallie Rubenhold, is a historian who has taken a different angle. She has investigated the backgrounds of the five women whose murders were attributed to the Ripper. It has been a broad assumption that these five women were prostitutes, and were hired or lured by the Ripper as such, before being murdered. In a way, this has always placed some blame on these women. Rubenhold's research show us that three of the women were wives and mothers who had been afflicted with addictions and were "sleeping rough" on the streets, due to lack of a home or financial ability. Only two of the women were prostitutes. This also does not mean they held any responsibility for their own murders.
Rubenhold's research into the times illuminates the rampant misogyny of the day. Women only held worth if they were wives and mothers. There was no honorable work available to them that would allow them to make a living on their own. Their fate was in the hands of men; their fathers or husbands. Women could not sleep with anyone who was not their husband, yet their husbands could carry on with other women without judgement. If a husband committed adultery, his wife could not obtain a legal separation unless it could be *proven* that the husband *also* committed incest or severe sexual or physical abuse in the home. However, a man could legally separate from his wife by simply stating that he was pretty sure she had been committing adultery. What a world that must have been. I thank my lucky stars I live in the 21st century.
The five women murdered in such a hideous manner by the Ripper (the author does not delve into the actual murders and investigations as there are plenty of resources on this topic already) were all human beings with families and friends who loved them. Some of them had husbands and children. They had fallen onto hard times in a society that already considered them to be lesser beings. They had no chance on the streets and even less of a chance in the media at the time. A shame.
The narrator was very good.
Recommended for people interested in Jack the Ripper and/or Victorian England.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Linda
- 2023-05-14
Informative
I’m very pleased with this book. It gives the reader a more complete understanding of the period when the murders took place Also, it gives the victims centre stage and drives home the fact that they were people. I learned a lot about what their lives were like.
This is a must read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- The Amber Journal
- 2023-11-18
Absolutely brilliant read!
This was an absolutely brilliant read! I strongly recommend this to anyone interested in Jack the Ripper, as this focuses on the victims and their real backgrounds rather than the sensationalism of the killings. What a great read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!