Kyle Lybeck's Literary Lair
Elizabeth Stride didn't know she was going to die, but Jack sure did. Living a life of bad choices, diseases, and desperation, she winds her way through the streets of London in search of the nearest man to accompany her. She started her life out so well, in Sweden with her family, before moving to London as a young woman. Unfortunately that all went downhill fast, beyond her control.

On each shoulder are two parts of her psyche, each playing a separate role of good and evil. On the one hand we have the internal dialogue of Bess who tries to keep Elizabeth on the straight and narrow road to life, away from dangers and towards a man who can lead her to something better. On the other side she has Liza, who is cynical and wants only to create more havoc for her.

What none know though, is that later down the road, Elizabeth is believed to have met Jack, a man who isn't too fond of women in dear London, and wants only to see Elizabeth as another of his Whitechapel victims.

In a mix of historical relevance and fiction, Alan M. Clark paints a glorious picture of Victorian London through the eyes of who was believed to be Jack The Ripper's third victim, Elizabeth Stride. While this novel isn't filled with horrific elements, it instead tells the tale of Elizabeth in her life leading up to right before meeting Jack, and having been murdered by him, if all is believed to be true. The flow and telling of the story was very engaging and true to the era, making this for a fun trip back in time to how Londoners used to live, and what it took to keep one afloat during the hardest of times. Overall I'd give this one a B, and encourage anyone looking for something a little bit different in their current reading habits to check it out.

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Review by Kyle Lybeck

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