Finding a moment to talk to historian Hallie Rubenhold right now is nigh on impossible. If she's not on the set of historical dramas, she's booking flights, organising charity events or responding to media requests. The Five, her new non-fiction book about the women killed by Jack the Ripper, is not released for another week, but has already soared up the Amazon bestseller list, been optioned by a TV drama company, generated news pieces in almost every national publication and had a raft of glowing reviews.
For a historian whose entire career has been defined by pushing the stories of under-acknowledged people to the fore – from authoring The Covent Garden Ladies and Lady Worsley's Whim, to serving as historical consultant on City of Vice and Harlots – the attention is long overdue. “Oh my god. It's amazing,” she says. “It's exciting and stressful at the same time because you are so open to scrutiny.”
Very few historical topics have been as picked apart and analysed as the Whitechapel murders of 1888. There have been Hollywood films, TV documentaries, video games and countless books attempting to unmask the killer – so it's unsurprising that The Five is one of 2019's most anticipated works of historical true crime.
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