I have been fascinated by Jack the Ripper since I first heard of him many years ago. Who was he? Why did he feel he could commit such horrible crimes? How did he get away with it? What is it that draws so many to his crimes? This book answers none of those really. For that I’m actually happy. In the midst of all my questions about him, I wanted to know more about these women. The prostitutes. As if that is all that mattered. As if it excused what was done to them. As if any of us are just one definable thing. Even as a young teen, I knew there was more to these women. The fact that for so many years that was all they were, murdered prostitutes, heavily influenced my belief that we should be remembering victims rather than the murderers. In my opinion, the author did just that. I am in awe of how much research she had done.
Each woman had a life beyond what they were, for centuries, remembered for. They had childhoods. They had family and friends. Life experiences that played a big part in what they became famous for. Life has never been gentle for women. It has made me laugh whenever I would hear woman called, “the weaker sex.” We bear children. We have overcome difficulties that are exhausting just to read of. We have been held back, valued less, yet trusted with the future, (historically who has had the responsibility of child raising and what is the future without children who grow into adults?). But we were the weaker ones. Okay. As I listened, and read, this book, of what a woman’s life was like back then, I admired these “fallen women,” who kept moving forward no matter what they had to do to survive the day.
I listened to this book on Audible. It was narrated by Louise Brealey, who did an awesome job. I also read the Kindle book. There were some slight changes in wording that made it difficult to read along as you listen. It was easy, though, to switch between listening and reading. I would recommend the book in either form. It was as fascinating as it was informative. True crime stories can be difficult to listen to. They can also be boring. This book was neither of those. I encourage you to read it and discuss it. It is an excellent book club choice.
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Popular Highlights in this book
The fibers that have clung to and defined the shape of Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane’s stories are the values of the Victorian world. They are male, authoritarian, and middle class. They were formed at a time when women had no voice, and few rights, and the poor were considered lazy and degenerate: to have been both of these things was one of the worst possible combinations.Highlighted by 631 Kindle readers- While a man could divorce his wife for a sexual liaison outside the marital bed, a woman had to prove her husband was guilty of adultery in addition to another crime, such as incest, rape, or cruelty.Highlighted by 511 Kindle readers
- Jack the Ripper killed prostitutes, or so it has always been believed, but there is no hard evidence to suggest that three of his five victims were prostitutes at all.Highlighted by 492 Kindle readers
- At times the coroner’s inquest became a moral investigation of Polly Nichols herself, as if the hearing was held in part to determine whether her behavior warranted her fate.Highlighted by 373 Kindle readers
- Within laboring communities, the social stigma of time spent at the workhouse was so great that many would rather beg, sleep rough, or become a prostitute than place themselves at the mercy of this institution.Highlighted by 326 Kindle readers
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Gripping!
This book is fantastic. Ms. Rubenhold pulls off a feat that is rare - she’s made historical biography imminently readable. Her smart, sympathetic, and illuminating history of these five women will change the way you think of Victorian society. She strips away much of the myth surrounding these women. Like most people almost all of what I had read about Jack the Ripper was sensational work about the gruesomeness of his crimes or speculation as to his identity. His victims were routinely described as poor prostitutes. This is not shocking given how society generally treats “lower class” women but given the intense interest in Jack it’s amazing that so much misinformation has been repeated over and over. This is excellent scholarship and should be recognized as such but Rubenhold’s true genius is in presenting it as interestingly as any novel. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in the Victorian era. I will never think of these women the same way again.
Top reviews from other countries
Alessandra M.
Una prospettiva nuova su uno dei più famosi casi della storia
Reviewed in Italy on December 14, 2023
_ForBooksSake Reviews
Powerful and heartbreaking.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2022
