Five Women, Victims of Circumstance

THE FIVE: The Untold Lives of The Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenold

I purchased this book while viewing a True Crime forum at the virtual 2020 Brooklyn Book Festival, yes, virtual because of the pandemic. The author, Hallie Rubenold, is a social historian who researched the lives of the five victims of serial killer, Jack the Ripper, something she said hasn’t been done before because the victims were simply painted with a broad brush as prostitutes and therefore not worth discussing.

The five victims were: Mary Ann Nichols (August, 1845 – August 31, 1888); Annie Chapman (September, 1841 – September 8, 1888); Elisabeth Stride (November, 1843 – September 30, 1888); Catherine Eddowes (April, 1842 – September 30, 1888); Mary Jane Kelly (~1863 – November 9, 1888). All women were in their forties and on the street, looking for a place to sleep when they died, except for Mary Jane Kelly, who was 25 years old and killed in her room, in her bed. They were all killed within a one mile radius. But that is all people, in general, know about them – their names, when and where they died, and the brutal way their bodies were mutilated. But who were they in life?