Three women, all impacted by violence at the hands of men, are the topic of this book which, whilst well-researched, often suffers from too much detail.

The Stand Your Ground law was a new one on me, as we don’t have such a law in the UK. It seems to almost backfire and actually do more harm than good.

I must admit I didn’t find this easy to read, but that may be my frame of mind at the moment, as I seem to have been overloaded recently with books about abuse and exploitation of women. I may well return to it at some point.

The Furies tells the true stories of three women in different parts of the world who have used violence to stand up for their rights and survival. Brittany Smith, Angoori Dahariya and Cicek Mustafa Zibo are all fascinating, flawed and fearless characters, and I was impressed by Flock's in-depth journalism.

However, I got to the end of the book feeling as if I'd read three separate stories rather than one continuous piece. The theme of 'women, vengeance and justice' alone is not enough to tie these women together; I was hoping for a bit more analysis and context to stitch their stories into a global narrative, rather than just their separate spheres.

Award winning journalist Elizabeth Flock was inspired by her own experiences as a result of the justice denied her after an assault to write The Furies: Three Women and Their Violent Fight for Justice. The book focuses on three women who took violent action as a response to male misogyny, aggression and brutality, with Flock particularly interested in how their actions have impacted the women, and society at large.

Brittany Smith shot dead a man who she claimed raped and brutalised her in her own home, but was denied a self-defense (stand your ground) legal claim in Alabama. It’s a heartbreaking and infuriating story of a woman whom the deeply misogynistic court system refused to recognise as a victim.

Seething with fury after years of mistreatment, Indian woman Angoori Dahariya formed a gang, inspired by the notorious figure of Phoolan Devi (known as the ‘Bandit Queen’) primarily to avenge victims of domestic violence and exploitation. Her ‘Green Gang’, now numbered in the thousands, threatens and punishes men publicly armed only with sticks. It’s an inspiring example of female empowerment, but not without its pitfalls.

Kurd Cicek Mustafa Zibo is a member of the all-female militia, the Women’s Protection Unit or YPJ, a sister force to the larger YPG fighting for freedom as an ethnic minority among hostile forces, including ISIS. Never keen on tradition which dictated she focus on becoming a wife and mother, Cicek decided to take up arms at age 17. She was proud to join the revolution and eager to fight, proving to be a committed soldier who quickly rose through the ranks, but the death and loss took its toll.

Flock built a relationship with the women she features over a period of about three years, and her connection with them is evident in the intimate details of their moving stories. I generally found Flock’s writing engaging and informative. Her reporting seems well researched, and well contextualised, balancing fact and emotion.

I found The Furies to be a confronting read, but one I believe imparts important lessons that everyone can, and should, learn from.

I thought this was a really interesting concept to connect the discrete experiences of three women through the lens of female anger in response to gender based violence. I did feel that there was an imbalance in weight given to stories with the first woman’s story drastically outweighing the second and third story. I enjoyed the narrative nonfiction but did feel that the prose could have been tighter to avoid it dragging. However, I will definitely be recommending this to all the angry women I know.

An incredibly well researched non fiction that follows three women: Brittany in the US who killed her rapist, Angoori in India who leads a vigilante gang of women and Cicek in Syria who is a member of an all female militia fighting against ISIS.

The Furies follows the stories and backgrounds of these three women, their lives leading up to, during and after these events and how each felt it necessary to turn to violence in order to survive and change the patriarchal system they live under and which left them no other choice.

This book explored so many topics including the Stand Your Ground law and wether it ultimately harms women, the policing system across the world, the way addicts and imperfect victims are viewed and scrutinised, the rise in women being incarcerated and the link between trauma and abuse leading to violence and crime, discrimination, sexism, how women end up turning to eachother and vigilantes to fill in the break down of law and order and so much more!!

Highly recommend this and will be recommending it to people who don’t often pick up non fiction too as it’s super readable and doesn’t feel dense at any point (although check trigger warnings of course!!)

Unfortunately I had to dnf this due to the dv aspect which is obviously a personal view.

Thanks to NetGalley for this arc