I classify this book as non-fiction, even though the author does quite a bit of supposition throughout this book. The assumptions she makes are logical leaps based on the realities of Victorian-era society.

As someone who is fascinated by true crime shows and stories and also loves history, this book is right in my wheelhouse. I have, of course, heard the story of Jack the Ripper. But before reading this book, I couldn't have told you a thing about any of the women who were murdered by him, other than the fact that they made their living on the streets as prostitutes.

This books delves in to the lives of these women, exploring their upbringing, education, living circumstances, etc. It shows us how decisions made by others, usually men, influenced the resources these women had, and how society in that time gave women next to no recourse in the instance of abusive or unhappy relationships.

I found learning about the ins and outs of Victorian life for fascinating, but if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, you might not enjoy this. I like that she dedicated one section to each of the women and reflected very little on the actual murders or the murderer. Enough time has been spent on him.

So why only 4 stars? Basically, the last section about Mary Jane Kelly is very flimsy. I understand that there really isn't a lot of information known about her that is provable, but it felt like the author took too heavy a hand in this section exploring the possibilities rather than sticking to actual verifiable facts. The story of her being forced into human trafficking is interesting, but I don't know how true it is.

The other thing I wanted to talk about is how sex workers are characterized throughout the book. As I said before, one of the only things that is 'known' about these women is that they were all sex workers killed while they were out at night searching for clients. This author's thesis is that there is zero hard evidence that three of the five women ever sold sex for money, and that characterizing them as such has made it easier for history to forget about them and kind of brush them aside because of their profession.

Now, this may be true. They may have just been one of many homeless people forced to sleep on the streets and beg for their living, but I'm not sure why that really matters? What if they were all prostitutes? Would that mean they deserved to be killed or that we shouldn't care as much about their lives? That seems to be what some reviewers took from the book. And I can understand why, with the strong assertions from the author that almost seem to insert a division between these women and sex workers. I don't think, however, that her goal was to say that these women were 'better' than prostitutes. I think her goal was merely to frame them in a way that would make the reader reassess their own bias and preconceptions from over a century of mis-characterization. Not just for three of the five women, but for all of them.

All in all, I really appreciated this book for shedding some light on these women and the role that society played in their circumstances and lack of opportunities.