The Furies: Three Women and Their Violent Fight for Justice

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The true story of three real-life women who used violence to survive when traditional systems of justice failed them Brittany Smith, a young woman from Stevenson, Alabama, killed a man she said raped her in her own home, but was denied the protection of a self-defense argument. Angoori Dahariya led a gang in Uttar Pradesh, India, dedicated to avenging victims of domestic abuse. Cicek Mustafa Zibo fought in a thousands-strong all-female militia that battled ISIS in Syria. Can women's acts of vengeance help to create lasting change in their communities, or will they ultimately hurt their cause In this profoundly moving book, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Flock explores the stories of three women living in deeply patriarchal places with destructive cultures of honour, places in which institutions - government, police, courts - failed to protect women from violence, leaving them no option but to stand up and protect themselves.

Reviews

This is an arresting, deeply reported new book, which considers three case studies of women . . . who, when faced with institutional failures of various kinds, took matters into their own hands . . . Flock is a patient reporter who embeds with her subjects long enough to write about their inner worlds with authority and nuance -- Rachel Monroe * The Washington Post *
Sensitively reported . . . There is a deep compassion in Flock's account -- Alexandra Schwartz * The New Yorker *
Flock has written an important and deeply moving book . . . She is a dogged investigative reporter -- Sara Wheeler * The Telegraph *
The Furies delicately unpicks the lives of these three flawed, brave women in an engaging as well as thoughtful way . . . Elizabeth Flocks respect for her own story, as well as the stories told by Smith, Dahariya and Zibo, are testimony to her acceptance of the complexity of all our lives -- Joanna Bourke * TLS *
Particularly incisive is Flocks assessment of the ways so-called justice systems pathologize and punish women . . . Flocks masterstroke [is the] immediacy and occasionally unnerving potency of her mythmaking . . . [The Furies] feels hopeful, even rebellious -- Emily Ann Zisko * Los Angeles Review of Books *
Engrossing . . . the vividness and directness of The Furies is distinctly filmic . . . a powerful and determinedly unsentimental book that exposes engrained injustice against women on three continents -- Rosemary Goring * Scottish Herald *
These stories of women's vengeance are both harrowing and thrilling. Rosa Parks' defiance was a carefully planned political act; these begin as the opposite - sheer rage. This gripping, inflaming book, itself an act of fury, shows how revenge can transmute into politics or be crushed by it -- Larissa MacFarquhar * author of Strangers Drowning *
The Furies is a remarkable and important exploration - reported with deep rigour and care - of what justice looks like for women who have been stripped of power and are trying to reclaim it -- Rachel Aviv * author of Strangers to Ourselves *
Flock brings rigor and granularity to her reporting . . . the juxtapositions in The Furies provoke thought. We tend to see violent women as deviants, but as Flock recounts the stories of Smith, Dahariya and Zibo, their longings and indulgences, their fears, motivations and faults, she shows how mistaken this notion is. The violence in her book is committed by women who are in many ways perfectly ordinary . . . Flock has done a service by portraying her subjects human complexity -- Sanam Maher * New York Times *
The Furies is a glorious excavation of women's rage. But it is also a cautionary tale of how the world treats women who dare to fight back, to assert their rights, to scream into the dark void of endless discrimination and inequality. These three women will fill you with hope, despair, and yes, fury -- Rachel Louise Snyder * author of No Visible Bruises *
Women around the world are fighting back against their oppressors, and these powerful stories - conveyed with rigour and compassion - will leave readers fired up, furious and raring to join the cause -- Kirsten Miller * author of The Change *
Drawing on in-depth interviews over many years, Emmy Award-winning journalist Elizabeth Flock creates vivid profiles of three women who responded to abuse with violence and vengeance.. Stirring narratives of defiance * Kirkus Reviews *
Flock has a novelists knack for creating suspense, her reporting is thorough, and her prose is moving . . . This one will stick with readers * Publishers Weekly *
Flock brings the gripping stories of Brittany Smith, Angoori Dahariya, and Cicek Mustafa Zibo to life with vivid detail and in-depth research . . . Her compelling narrative will resonate with those who seek to live in a more feminist, egalitarian society * Booklist *

Author Bio

Elizabeth Flock is a journalist and the author of Love and Marriage in Mumbai. Her journalism has appeared in the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and on the PBS NewsHour, where her investigation into sexual harassment and retaliation in the U.S. Forest Service won an Emmy Award and was nominated for a Peabody Award. A PEN America fellow and IWMF and Pulitzer Center grantee, she lives in Chicago, Illinois.