The Five: The Lives of Jack the Ripper's Women

I cannot even begin to explain how much I loved this book or how important this book really is. I have always had a keen interest in Jack the Ripper and read everything I could lay my hands on. Jack has been researched, theorized, and written about more times than I can count but there has been barely a sentence put together about the women at the core of Ripperology... until now. This book is an attempt to set the record straight regarding the women at the center of this horrible period in time. It has always been assumed that they were prostitutes and though some may have been, they were also daughters, mothers, sisters, and wives/partners. They had lives and dreams before they ended up in the East End. Society has a nasty way of blaming the victim and the stories about these women are no different. Hallie Rubenhold delves into the history of the women whose lives were stolen from them. What strikes at the heart of all of the tales is the common theme of women starting off the race at the same time but each facing their own hurdles and bouts of bad luck that eventually led them to the East End and ultimately face to face with Jack. The conclusion at the end of the book is poignant and very relevant for society today and imparts the important message that we should have learned a lesson from these horrific murders and the tragic women behind them. "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." We didn't learn to respect and protect women then and we do not respect or protect women now. Anyone who cares about violence towards women today needs to read this book. This is a book I will read again so am planning to buy a physical copy to add to my collection.