The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper is a book by the British historian Hallie Rubenhold, published by Doubleday in 2019. The book examines the lives of the "canonical five", the five women largely believed to have been killed by Jack the Ripper in the Whitechapel murders. Rubenhold came to the conclusion that only two of the five women, Mary Jane Kelly and Elizabeth Stride, were prostitutes. In some cases the women may have been targeted by the Ripper just because they were sleeping rough.[1][2][3][4]

Critical reception

Overall, the book was received positively.[5] The Guardian dubbed the book "important" and praised its illumination of the lives of the women, as well as challenging long held assumptions.[6] The Washington Post said that by "restoring 'the five' to humanity and dignity, Rubenhold’s book becomes a passionate indictment of the true-crime genre, with its fixation on the minds of murderers and its shallow, glancing sympathy for the dead."[7] Also writing for The Washington Post, Wendy Smith, describes the book as "a blistering counter-narrative to the 'male, authoritarian, and middle class' legend of a demonic superman preying on prostitutes".[8] Smith further decisively notes that, "[Rubenhold] has a point about the legions of books that speculate endlessly about Jack the Ripper’s identity while displaying scant interest in the five human beings he viciously dispatched. Her riveting work, both compassionate group portrait and stinging social history, finally gives them their due."[8] Kirkus Reviews argues that, "Rubenhold urges us to see the victims as just that and not as the 'fallen women' of the received record."[9]

Awards

The Five was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2020 and won the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize valued at £50,000.[10] [11]

References
  1. Cain, Sian (2019-03-01). "Hallie Rubenhold: 'Jack the Ripper's victims have just become corpses. Can't we do better?'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  2. "'Untold story' of Ripper victims to Doubleday | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  3. Goodwin, Review by Daisy (2019-02-17). "Review: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold — a poignant, absorbing read". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  4. DeGroot, Gerard (2019-02-15). "Review: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold — the victims tell their tales". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  5. "Book Marks reviews of The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold". Book Marks. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  6. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/13/the-five-by-hallie-rubenhold-review-the-untold-lives-of-the-rippers-victims
  7. Scutts, Joanna. "Review | Jack the Ripper's victims are famous in death, but what were their lives like?". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  8. Smith, Wendy. "Review | Jack the Ripper's identity has been endlessly scrutinized. His victims were largely forgotten". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  9. "The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper". Kirkus Reviews. February 3, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  10. "Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist revealed | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  11. https://www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk/past-winners/2020-winners/the-five/


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