Hay Festival Winter Weekend starts today with the announcement of The Book of the Year - The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenfold.

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

The announcement comes as thousands of book lovers get ready to descend on “the town of books” for a four-day global celebration of ideas with writers, thinkers and entertainers, alongside a rich strand of workshops, woodland walks and town festivities, which runs until Saturday.

Hallie Rubenhold will be talking about her book in a new addition to the programme tomorrow, Saturday.

The book was also named winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction last week.

For the full Winter Weekend programme, visit hayfestival.org