The Furies

A searing portrait of three real-life women who used violence to survive when traditional systems of justice failed them.

The Furies tells the stories of three unforgettable women who chose to use lethal force to gain power, safety, and freedom when the institutions meant to protect them—government, police, courts—utterly failed to do so. Brittany Smith, a young Alabama woman, killed a man she said raped her in her home, but was denied a self-defence claim; Angoori Dahariya led a gang in Uttar Pradesh, India, dedicated to avenging victims of domestic abuse; and Cicek Mustafa Zibo fought in a thousands-strong all-female militia that battled ISIS in Syria. Each woman has been criticised for their actions by those who believe that violence is never the answer; yet each has transmuted a story of pain into a story of power.

In luminous prose, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Flock asks searching questions about cultures in which violence seems like the only means of survival, when deeply ingrained ideas about masculinity and women have helped breed the unsafe conditions that women face. The novelistic accounts of these three women offer profound insights into the quest for understanding what a society where women have real power might look like.