A HISTORY revealing the lives of five women murdered by Jack the Ripper has been named Hay Festival Book of the Year 2019 at the opening of Hay Festival Winter Weekend today.

It is the second honour in a week for author Hallie Rubenhold whose book, The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, was also named winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction last week.

The historian will now make a special appearance in Hay-on-Wye to talk about the book in a new addition to the Winter Weekend programme on Saturday, November 30.

Hundreds nominated their favourite titles of the year online, with festival organisers making the final decision to award Rubenhold’s book the Hay title. Her win follows Inventing Ourselves by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore in 2018 and The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris in 2017.

The Five offers the devastating narratives of the five women killed by Jack the Ripper in 1888. An important work of historical detection, The Five sees Rubenhold unravel the misogyny that has fed the Ripper myth.

A social historian and authority on women’s lives of the past, Rubenhold has worked as a curator for the National Portrait Gallery and as a lecturer. Her books include Lady Worsley’s Whim, dramatised by the BBC as The Scandalous Lady W, and Covent Garden Ladies: The Extraordinary Story of Harris’s List, which inspired the ITV series Harlots.

Gareth Howell-Jones, bookshop manager at Hay Festival, said: “The Five is a brilliantly inventive study that became one of the most discussed titles at Hay Festival Wales this year – we’re delighted to celebrate it as our Book of the Year. Rubenhold has done what only the best writers can, bringing history into the present with lessons for us today.”

Today is the opening day of the festival’s four day Winter Weekend which will bring thousands of book lovers to "the town of books" for talks with writers, thinkers and entertainers, alongside f workshops, woodland walks and town festivities, which run to Sunday, December 1.

Winter Weekend highlights

A free Hay Hustings event gives voters the chance to put their questions to Liberal Democrat MP Jane Dodds, and Conservative and Labour candidates Fay Jones and Tom Davies today at 1pm.

Former Catatonia star and now BBC broadcaster Cerys Matthews launches her new cookbook, Where the Wild Cooks Go: Recipes, Music, Poetry, Cocktails. She will also switch on Hay’s Christmas lights this evening. Families are invited to create their own colourful Christmas lanterns in Hay Public Library from 3.30pm before joining the Hay Festival Winter Weekend procession at 5.30pm to the Market Square.

Fresh from her Booker Prize 2019 win, Bernardine Evaristo talks about her polyphonic novel, Girl, Woman, Other, with chair of judges Peter Florence; and artist Jackie Morris launches the Welsh version of her masterpiece The Lost Words – Geiriau Diflanedig – with multi-award-winning poet Mererid Hopwood.

Journalist Afua Hirsch and illustrator Henny Beaumont discuss their bestselling children’s book about Judge Lady Hale, Equal to Everything: Judge Brenda and the Supreme Court.

A panel of local booksellers and friends lead tributes to the late Richard Booth, the ‘King of Hay’. There will also be an update on the king’s one time home, Hay Castle, with Nancy Lavin Albert from the Hay Castle Trust presenting the latest developments around the iconic local building, offering a glimpse into the inner workings of a large- scale heritage conservation project and some of the lessons learned along the way.

Extinction Rebellion spokesman Rupert Read outlines the extent of the climate emergency and the current state of the worldwide protests; and Channel 4’s head of news Dorothy Byrne, Boris Johnson’s former spin doctor Guto Harri, Guardian journalist Afua Hirsch, and economist Vicky Pryce debate the priorities of the next UK government.

Cursed Britain isn’t about the country’s on-going political situation but the title of Thomas Waters’ A History of Witchcraft and Black Magic in Modern Times.

Max Hastings talks Chastise: The Dambusters Story 1943.

BAFTA award-winning cameraman Lindsay McCrae talks My Penguin Year: Living with the Emperors after a year filming the most resilient creatures in nature for the BBC series Dynasties; while principal curator at the Science Museum, Tilly Blyth, launches the accompaniment to the landmark BBC Radio 4 series, The Art of Innovation: From Enlightenment to Dark Matter.

Archbishop of York John Sentamu presents his latest book, Wake Up to Advent!, while Fiona Evans leads a series of choir rehearsals over the weekend to close the Festival with a Hay Messiah.

Comedian Jason Byrne launches his new show Ready But Wrecked, while Russell Kane presents his new book Son of a Silverback. Organist Father Richard Williams returns with a live accompaniment to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis; Sarah-Louise Young offers her An Evening Without Kate Bush cabaret; and UK ska collective Chainska Brassika perform.

After successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Bristol Old Vic, Owen Sheers’ Unicorns, Almost returns to Hay for a one-off show, followed by a Q&A with the playwright; meanwhile Mid Wales Opera presents their radical reworking of John Gay’s 1728 work, Mrs Peachum’s Guide to Love and Marriage; and Allie Esiri, editor of Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year, curates a blockbuster series of performances as acclaimed actors celebrate Shakespeare’s work and times – scenes, soliloquies and sonnets.

Away from the main stages, workshops and fun activities keep all ages entertained, from dance and cookery to lantern-making in Hay Public Library. Meanwhile, the Woodland Trust kicks off their Big Climate Fightback campaign, leading a series of Tree ID walks nearby for Festivalgoers and the latest series of plantings in the Festival’s #HayTrees project get underway.