The stories of two very different women intersect at the height of Jack the Ripper's killing spree. Michelle Finlay's husband died on her wedding night, leaving her in a fortunate position with money to spare. Michelle takes up the cause of helping destitute women by training them for other available jobs. She also discovers very young girls who were kidnapped from their homes to work in brothel's. Upon trying to expose the fate of the young girls Michelle is set-up for the murder of one of the men who kidnaps the young girls. Mary Kelly is a young women who recently lost her husband in a mining accident. With little money and no where to go, she eventually finds herself in Whitechapel working as a prostitute, Mary often comes across Michelle and an offer of a different life, but refuses to take it.
This book was not really what I was expecting; from the blurb I was expecting a Jack the Ripper murder mystery. However, the murders are not introduced to the end of the book and are not really integral to the plot. The story really focuses on the plight of women at the time. Michelle's character, though she has plenty of money, struggles to find jobs for women that would pay equal to prostitution. She is also not respected when she tries to bring the story of the young girls in brothels out into the public.I did enjoy learning about one of the real life women of the time, Josephine Butler, who campaigned for the welfare of prostitutes. Mary Kelly is left with no where else to turn after her husband dies and must continually work the streets in order to make ends meet. I do have to say that I didn't really feel much or connect with either of the characters. They kept making strange choices and didn't seem all that real. I was also a bit confused by the eroticism of Michelle's character, it did make her seem more like a real person, but nothing was done with it except for a sexy scene randomly. There was also no real climax to the story, Michelle is charged with murder early on, but is quickly found not guilty. There are no other exciting points after that. It may have helped to move the story along a bit if the Michelle and Mary's points of view were intertwined a little better. Mary's character is not even introduced until a quarter of the way through and then it is like a different story. I think if the two women's stories were combined more effectively their experiences could have mirrored one another, even though they were in two different classes of society.
This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.
5