jjares reviewed on 8/21/2022 + 3413 more book reviews

This book tells the story of the five women killed by Jack the Ripper. This book is well-researched and tightly written. So that you know, this is not a book about Jack the Ripper. Interestingly, the author wants to remove these women (as much as possible) from the label of prostitution. So instead, the author concentrates on these women's dreary, dismal lives, trying to eke out a simple existence. The young women's names were Annie, Catherine, Elizabeth, Mary-Jane, and Polly (Mary Ann). This book turns these women into people instead of simply nameless victims.

This book shows Victorian British women's difficulty caring for themselves without a husband's support. The police generally labeled any unwed woman, on her own, as a prostitute. Polly (Mary Ann Nichols), the first victim, lost her husband to another woman (a neighbor). After her husband removed his support, Polly became a wandering person, just looking for pennies to find a night's lodging.

While the newspapers were still telling about Polly's murder, Annie Chapman became the next victim. Years earlier, Annie succumbed to liquor and lost her husband. His boss would not have a drunkard near his fashionable estate, and Annie's husband reluctantly turned Annie out. When Annie's husband's weekly support did not arrive, she walked miles to find that her husband was dying. Annie fell apart with grief. At the same time, she was suffering from tuberculosis. However, she generally sold her crochet and needlework to earn a bed for the night.

Elizabeth Stride's story is even more pitiful. Becoming a housemaid at seventeen, someone in the household seduced Elizabeth. By twenty-one (years old), Elizabeth had lost a baby and was treated for venereal disease (an excruciating, dangerous, and humiliating exercise involving the police). Eventually, Elizabeth married, but the marriage fell apart, possibly because Elizabeth could not have children (or at least carry them to term, probably because of latent venereal disease). Eventually, she fell into prostitution. However, she also demonstrated the terminal effects of the neuro-venereal disease (epileptic seizures, disorientation, etc.). Another victim was found on the same night that Elizabeth left this earth.

If possible, Catherine Eddowes's story is even more pathetic. After her parents died of illnesses, the many Eddowes children quickly married or were sent to workhouses. Catherine received a workhouse education until she was sent to an uncle to find work. Catherine soon left their home and followed a traveling hawker (salesman of chapter books). They had multiple children. He never married Catherine but beat her regularly. Eventually, the family broke apart, and Catherine struck out independently. Finally, after years of 'living rough,' Catherine was found the same night as Elizabeth in Whitechapel.

About six weeks after this pair of deaths, the youngest victim would die - Mary Jane Kelly. This young woman changed her story so much that people did not know if she was Welsh or Irish. No information Mary Jane gave was ever confirmed; the woman who died is unknown. However, she was an attractive woman used to the sex trade. Eventually, Mary Jane took up with a fellow drinker (Joe Barnett), and they lived together for eighteen months until he lost his job. After the couple argued, Barnett left. Hours later, Mary Jane was found in her bed.

Alcohol destroyed each of these women's lives. This book is a sociological study of lower-class lives during the Victorian Era. This compelling book turns these statistics into tragic, complex beings before their gruesome deaths. The story does not include the details of the women's deaths, which would have taken from the consequence of their lives. This is probably the most important book I've read this year. The author's research shines on every page of this book; absolutely brilliant.

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