The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

 

This is the story of each of Jack The Ripper's victims.  These women, struggling against poverty and addiction, have been painted as prostitutes.  That is far from the truth.  Only the last victim, Mary Ann Kelly, was living as a prostitute.  One other victim had been arrested for prostitution but it had been years in the past and there was no evidence that she had returned to that way of life.

Most of the victims had been married at one time.  One woman's husband had started an affair with a next door neighbor and since he had the ability to provide for the children, she had moved out.  Another was the wife of a coachman which was a prestigious service job but when her addiction to drink led her to wandering the streets drunk and incoherent, her husband was told that if she didn't leave the estate, he would lose his job.

Most of these women were addicted to alcohol.  The other factor was too many children.  Many of the poor had eight to twelve children as birth control was not available to the poor.  The literature telling how to prevent children was of no use to women who could not read and for those struggling to put some kind of meal on the table.  Many of the children were born with little chance to survive as the mothers made sure that their children ate first and were often malnourished themselves as a result.  The women were forced onto the streets and into the worst of the boarding rooms.  Their only goal each day was to find enough money either through work, pawning possessions or begging to obtain a room for the night and some left over to eat and drink.  They were easy targets for a serial killer.

Hallie Rubenhold is an author who specializes in Victorian British history, specifically the history of the women of that time period.  Her research was extensive and goes far beyond the scandalous newspaper stories of the Ripper.  She has found out each woman's entire life story, going back to each woman's childhood and telling how she came to find herself on the street when the Ripper was stalking woman at night.  Readers will finish the book with a much different view about what really went on in this case.  Each woman's life history and story has been returned to her giving her some dignity beyond being Ripper Victim Number X.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.