Editions

The Five

  • Imprint: Doubleday

  • ISBN: 9780857524485

  • Length: 432  Pages

  • Dimensions: 222mm x 39mm x 144mm

  • Weight: 556g

  • RRP: £16.99

The Five

  • The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NONFICTION 2019
'An angry and important work of historical detection, calling time on the misogyny that has fed the Ripper myth. Powerful and shaming' GUARDIAN

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers.

What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888.

Their murderer was never identified, but the name created for him by the press has become far more famous than any of these five women.

Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, and gives these women back their stories.

WINNER OF THE GOODREADS HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019

PRAISE FOR THE FIVE

'Gripping' New York Times

'Speaks with an urgency and passion to our own times' STIG ABELL, Chair of Baillie Gifford Prize

'At last, the Ripper's victims get a voice... An eloquent, stirring challenge to reject the prevailing Ripper myth.' MAIL ON SUNDAY

'Devastatingly good. The Five will leave you in tears, of pity and of rage.' LUCY WORSLEY

'Dignity is finally returned to these unfortunate women.' PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK

'Haunting’ SUNDAY TIMES

'What a brilliant and necessary book' JO BAKER, author of Longbourn

'Beautifully written and with the grip of a thriller, it will open your eyes and break your heart.’ ERIN KELLY

'An outstanding work of history-from-below … magnificent' THE SPECTATOR

'Deeply researched' THE NEW YORKER


AWARDS FOR THE FIVE
- Shortlisted for the WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2020
- Winner of the BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE for Non-fiction 2019
- HAY FESTIVAL Book of the Year 2019
- Shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
- Shortlisted for the Historical Writers' Association Non-Fiction Crown Award
- A New York Times, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, GQ, Washington Post, Oprah Winfrey Magazine and Independent Summer read/History Book of the Year
- Winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for History 2019

  • Imprint: Doubleday

  • ISBN: 9780857524485

  • Length: 432  Pages

  • Dimensions: 222mm x 39mm x 144mm

  • Weight: 556g

  • RRP: £16.99

Reviews

  • "FIVE STARS: At last, the Ripper's victims get a voice... An eloquent, stirring challenge to reject the prevailing Ripper myth."

    Gwen Smith, Mail on Sunday

  • "How fitting that in the year when we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, dignity is finally returned to these unfortunate women."

    Professor Dame Sue Black, author of ALL THAT REMAINS

  • "A Ripper narrative that gives voice to the women he silenced; I’ve been waiting for this book for years. Beautifully written and with the grip of a thriller, it will open your eyes and break your heart."

    Erin Kelly, author of HE SAID/SHE SAID

  • "What a brilliant and necessary book"

    Jo Baker, author of LONGBOURN

  • "Devastatingly good. The Five will leave you in tears of pity and of rage."

    LUCY WORSLEY

  • "Forests have been felled in the interests of unmasking the murderer, but until now no one has bothered to discover the identity of his victims. The Five is thus an angry and important work of historical detection, calling time on the misogyny that has fed the Ripper myth. . . This is a powerful and a shaming book, but most shameful of all is that it took 130 years to write."

    Frances Wilson, Guardian

  • "By collating these five deeply affecting biographies ... Rubenhold has given these women the immortality that their murderer does not deserve."

    Daily Mail

  • "Stupendous. The sort of work that keeps history vital."

    IMOGEN HERMES GOWAR, author of THE MERMAID AND MRS HANCOCK

  • "Fascinating, compelling, moving, The Five makes a fierce, passionate argument about the ethics of how we engage with murder. A brilliant,properly thoughtful, responsible piece of political writing."

    BRIDGET COLLINS, author of THE BINDING

  • "‘Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly deserve to be thought of as more than eviscerated bodies on an East London street. This haunting book does something to redress that balance."

    Sunday Times

More from this Author

About the Author

Hallie Rubenhold

Hallie Rubenhold is a social historian and an authority on women's lives of the past. She has worked as a curator for the National Portrait Gallery and as a university lecturer. Her books include Lady Worsley's Whim, dramatized by the BBC as The Scandalous Lady W, and Covent Garden Ladies: The Extraordinary Story of Harris's List, which inspired the ITV series Harlots. She lives in London with her husband.

Hallie Rubenhold

Related articles

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Features

5 things you didn't know about the women killed by Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is famous for brutally murdering five women in East London. But what about the women themselves? Time and time again women have taken a backseat in their own narratives, but historian Hallie Rubenhold wants to set the record straight and give the female victims back their voices.

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