10 Year Blogversary - My Favourite Book from 2020 - The Five by Hallie Rubenhold - #BookReview

 

"There are two versions of the events of 1888. One is very well known; the other is not. The first one is the one printed in most history books......... Then there is the other version..... which most choose to forget."

***

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 more famous than any of these women.

In this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally gives these women back their stories.

***

Continuing with my ten year blog anniversary celebrations, here is another of my favourites of the decade. Today I am publishing my favourite read from 2020 and it was originally posted on 27th May of that year.  This nonfiction title made a huge impact on me has stayed with me ever since.

I originally read this during the pandemic and my review reflects that. I have updated the review a little so there is more information about the book and the author but essentially the review is as it appeared that day.

I have a library copy of this book which I had borrowed before all the libraries were closed. However, half way through this book I knew I would want a copy of my own so bought one online. It is a fantastic book and one that I know I shall return to.

I suppose it resonates with me as my own ancestors were in the same area at the time of the murders. Flower and Dean Street is well known for it's Victorian doss houses and the 1881 census places my own great-great grandparents as being resident in Flower and Dean Street at the time the census was taken. It is a strange thought that they were rubbing shoulders with the Ripper victims and possibly even the Ripper himself.

The author has clearly done extensive research in preparation for writing this book and it contains a bibliography that runs to twenty-one pages. She has taken all of these resources and written an accessible and engaging book.

At no point does she deal with the brutality with which these women lost their lives. Instead, she focuses on the women who were murdered; their childhoods, adolescence and  adult lives which were cut tragically short. She challenges the belief that they were 'merely prostitutes,' as was contemporaneously believed and reported and presents us five women who were trying to live and survive during difficult times and in straightened circumstances.

Ms. Rubenhold has humanised and given these women a voice. Certainly, they were women who were down on their luck, homeless and alcoholic but with the exception of two of them there is no evidence to suggest that they were sex workers.

I wholeheartedly applaud the author for this book. She presents us with five women who were not merely victims of the Ripper but were victims of the time in which they lived. They were victims of their gender, time and world into which they were born - a time in which women did not have a voice. Well done Ms. Rubenhold for giving us the means by which we can see these women for who they really were and not merely as the Ripper's victims. I highly recommend this book.

ISBN: 978 1784162344

Publisher: Black Swan

Formats:  e-book, audio and paperback

No. of Pages:  432 (paperback)

About the Author:

Hallie Rubenhold is a bestselling author, social historian, broadcaster and historical consultant for TV and film.

She published The Five; The Untold Lives of The Women Killed by Jack the Ripper in 2019 and was the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction. It is the first full length biography of the Ripper’s victims. 

In 2005, Hallie published The Covent Garden Ladies, and was the subject of three television programmes, including the hit drama series, Harlots (ITV Encore, Amazon and Hulu). In 2006, BBC4 broadcast The Harlots Handbook, a documentary based on Hallie’s book which she presented.

Her equally celebrated second book, Lady Worsley’s Whim (entitled The Lady in Red in the US) about the 18th century’s most infamous adultery trial became BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week in November 2008. In August 2015, it appeared as a 90 minute drama for BBC2 entitled The Scandalous Lady W, starring Natalie Dormer and Shaun Evans.

Hallie is also the author of a series of novels set during the period of the French Revolution. The first of these, Mistress of My Fate was published in 2011 (2013 in the US). The second, The French Lesson was published in the UK in April, 2016.

In addition to writing books, articles and reviews, Hallie regularly appears on TV as an expert contributor to documentaries. 

Hallie has a passion for telling a great historical tale and has a nose for unearthing previously unknown stories from little-known sources. She loves challenging our preconceived notions about our ancestors lives and revels in history’s surprising, unpleasant and gritty truths. Her extensive academic experience extends to research, teaching, lecturing and curatorial work. In the past she has been employed as a curator for the National Portrait Gallery, a university lecturer and a commercial art dealer. In 2014 she curated an exhibition on women’s reputations in the Georgian era for No.1 Royal Crescent in Bath and has been involved with several projects at the Foundling Museum in London.

Hallie received her B.A. in History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an M.A. in British History and History of Art from the University of Leeds. Remaining at Leeds, she embarked on her studies for a PhD and later completed her thesis on the subject of marriage and child-rearing in the eighteenth century.

She lives with her husband in London.

(author media courtesy of her website https://www.hallierubenhold.com/ / Sarah Blackie)

(all opinions are my own)

The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop - #BookReview

 

It's TOO HOT to be outside for long. Sweat is starting to dampen my scalp, thickening in the roots of my hair and pooling in the crevices of my collar bone. My t-shirt sticks to my spine and my arms are tinged pink, an ungainly line of skin beginning to blister along the top of my thigh in the almost unseasonable blaze of sun. I curl my toes into the damp sand and feel the sharpness of a small shell against the sole of my foot.

Please, don't let him have left without me, I think, I'll do anything. I need him to come for me.

From my spot on the sand I can just make out the dock. Rising out of the sea is the rickety wooden platform where I disembarked months ago, seasick and tired...

***

Rachel has loved Alistair since she was seventeen.

Even though she hasn't seen him for sixteen years and she's now married to someone else.

Even though she was a teenager when they met.

Even though he is almost twenty years older than her.

Now in her thirties, Rachel has never been able to forget their golden summer together on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island. But as dark and deeply suppressed memories rise to the surface, Rachel begins to understand that Alistair - and the enigmatic, wealthy man he worked for - controlled much more than she ever realized.

Rachel has never once considered herself a victim - until now.

***

This is such a powerful novel that I hardly know where to begin. It is a book that is highly relevant to todays society and to the #MeToo campaign. 

Written in chapters alternately titled 'Then' and 'Now' it is a story of manipulation, control and deception. Consequently, it does not always make for comfortable reading. That said, the author treats the subject with sensitivity.

The main character, Rachel, is an innocent abroad and cannot see how she and her friends were being lured into a situation that they had not anticipated. She, in particular, becomes completely embroiled in the attentions of Alaistair, a man twenty years her senior, and is completely blind to the situation that is playing out around her. 

The descriptions of the stunning scenery were beautiful and a distinct contrast to the dark theme of the story. However, with the story being told from the perspective of Rachel, to whom life appeared wonderful, it is important that the author was able to portray her view of the surroundings and relationships. 

As the reader, I flitted between wanting to hug Rachel to giving her a strong wake up call. I was completely absorbed in the book and found Rachel a frustrating character. Her inability to later comprehend what had happened to her, how she had been used and abused and how she let this impact her future life in the way that she did made me feel rather exasperated with her at times. 

This is a sedately paced and atmospheric novel which is sufficiently compelling to ensure that I was fully engaged by the story. It has been well written and is an excellent debut from Ms. Bishop.

ISBN:  978 1787636002

Publisher:  Bantam

Formats:  e-book and hardback

No. of Pages:  353 (hardback)

Support Independent Bookshops - Buy from Bookshop.org *

About the Author:

Katie Bishop is a writer and journalist based in Birmingham, UK. She grew up in the Midlands before moving to Oxford to work in publishing in her early twenties.

Whilst working as an assistant editor she started writing articles in her spare time, going on to be published in the New York Times, Guardian, Independent and Vogue.

Katie started writing The Girls of Summer during the first UK COVID lockdown, after becoming increasingly interested in stories emerging from the #MeToo movement.

The novel is inspired by her own experiences of backpacking, and by her interest in how personal narratives can be reshaped and understood in light of cultural and social changes.

In 2020, Katie moved back to the Midlands, and now lives in Birmingham with her partner. She is a full-time writer.

(book courtesy of the publisher)

(Author photo and information courtesy of the author's website https://www.katiebishopwrites.com/)

Support Independent Bookshops - Buy from - Bookshop.org*

*Disclosure: I only recommend books I would buy myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains an affiliate link from which I may earn a small commission.

The Five (The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper) by Hallie Rubenhold - #BookReview

"There are two versions of the events of 1888. One is very well known; the other is not. The first one is the one printed in most history books......... Then there is the other version..... which most choose to forget."

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 more famous than any of these women.

In this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally gives these women back their stories.

***

I have a library copy of this book which I had borrowed before all the libraries were closed. However, half way through this book I knew I would want a copy of my own so bought one online. It is a fantastic book and one that I know I shall return to.

I suppose it resonates with me as my own ancestors were in the same area at the time of the murders. Flower and Dean Street is well known for it's Victorian doss houses and the 1881 census places my own great-great grandparents as being resident in Flower and Dean Street at the time the census was taken. It is a strange thought that they were rubbing shoulders with the Ripper victims and possibly even the Ripper himself.

The author has clearly done extensive research in preparation for writing this book and it contains a bibliography that runs to twenty-one pages. She has taken all of these resources and written an accessible and engaging book.

At no point does she deal with the brutality with which these women lost their lives. Instead, she focuses on the women who were murdered; their childhoods, adolescence and  adult lives which were cut tragically short. She challenges the belief that they were 'merely prostitutes,' as was contemporaneously believed and reported and presents us five women who were trying to live and survive during difficult times and in straightened circumstances.

Ms. Rubenhold has humanised and given these women a voice. Certainly, they were women who were down on their luck, homeless and alcoholic but with the exception of two of them there is no evidence to suggest that they were sex workers.

I wholeheartedly applaud the author for this book. She presents us with five women who were not merely victims of the Ripper but were victims of the time in which they lived. They were victims of their gender, time and world into which they were born - a time in which women did not have a voice. Well done Ms. Rubenhold for giving us the means by which we can see these women for who they really were and not merely as the Ripper's victims. I highly recommend this book.

ISBN: 978 1784162344

Publisher: Black Swan

About the Author:

Hallie Rubenhold is a best-selling author, social historian, broadcaster and historical consultant for film and television. She is the author of two novels, Mistress of My Fate and The French Lesson. 

She has also written non-fiction titles The Lady in Red, The Covent Garden Ladies, The Scandalous Lady W and Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies.

She lives in London with her husband.