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

Author Biography

Hallie Rubenhold is the Number One Sunday Times bestselling and Baillie Gifford Non-Fiction prize-winning social historian whose expertise lies in revealing stories of previously unknown women and episodes in history. As well as The Covent Garden Ladies, Rubenhold's works of non-fiction include the award-winning and Number One bestselling The Five- The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper and Lady Worsley's Whim, dramatized by the BBC as 'The Scandalous Lady W'. Her latest work of non-fiction, Bad Women, the story of the disappeared wives and partner of Dr Crippen, is due to be published in 2022. She has also written two acclaimed novels Mistress of My Fate and The French Lesson which are a feminist homage to the literary tropes of the Eighteenth Century. She lives in London with her husband. Meet her @HallieRubenhold