A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells the story of Stephen Dedalus, a boy growing up in Ireland at the end of the nineteenth century, as he gradually decides to cast off all his social, familial, and religious constraints to live a life devoted to the art of writing. As a young boy, Stephen's Catholic faith and Irish nationality heavily influence him. He attends a strict religious boarding school called Clongowes Wood College. At first, Stephen is lonely and homesick at the school, but as time passes he finds his place among the other boys. He enjoys his visits home, even though family tensions run high after the death of the Irish political leader Charles Stewart Parnell.

Portrait Of A Killer: Jack The Ripper -- Case Closed
Well, I am sure - THAT case is far from being closed...it is a very controversial book, probably fiction (and it made big money:)) but.. I have read that book, and if not more, we can learn a lot about Victorian London's East End and its poverty.