This piece was originally shared with my newsletter subscribers at the end of July 2026.
In Legend: The Ripper’s Eternal Echo, Emily Ashworth helps Finn investigate the Whitechapel murders by telling her journalist uncle that she is considering a career as a reporter. This gives them a respectable reason to ask how the press follows a murder investigation and leads Finn to her first useful contact in Whitechapel. Although Emily is only playing the role at this stage, the scene raises a question that interested me while writing the novel: what would it have meant for a young woman to work as a reporter in Whitechapel in 1888?
In 1888, women were finding their way into British journalism, but they remained a small minority in a profession dominated by men. Many found opportunities through periodicals and columns devoted to women’s interests, while comparatively few moved into broader reporting. For a young woman to involve herself in the investigation of violent crimes in Whitechapel would have been unusual and risky.
For an unmarried woman like Emily, entering Whitechapel involved more than physical danger. Victorian ideas of respectability governed where a woman could go and which subjects she could discuss. Even her interest in murder could be regarded as improper.
Emily does not possess Finn Parker’s four thousand years of experience. She cannot move through danger with Finn’s confidence or draw upon centuries of accumulated knowledge. What she has is a questioning mind and a willingness to pursue information that others would rather leave hidden. Her connection to Paul also gives her access to a newspaper world fascinated by the murders.
I did not want Emily to exist merely as someone for Finn to protect. Her inexperience places her at risk, but it also allows her to ask questions that Finn might not think to ask. She enters the investigation through an excuse and gradually begins to act like the reporter she said she wanted to become.
Kirkus Reviews later described Emily as an “enterprising young journalist.” Although she does not formally hold that position, the description reflects the role she gradually assumes.
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