Listen to a sample
The Furies
- Author
- Elizabeth Flock
- Narrator
- Mia Hutchinson Shaw
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date
- 9 January 2024
- Run Time
- 12 hours 6 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
Not available in your country
We don't have the rights to sell this audiobook where you are. If it's already in your library you can still listen to it in My Books.
What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
A stunning narrative investigation into three women who rewrote stories of disempowerment into stories of resistance, and wielded violence to fight back against their oppressors
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, that was 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 power.
In The Furies, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Flock examines the lives 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. In luminous prose, Flock asks searching questions about cultures in which violence seems like the only means of survival, where deeply ingrained ideas about masculinity and women have helped breed the violence that women face. Can women's acts of vengeance help to create lasting change in misogynistic and paternalistic systems, or will they ultimately hurt their cause? The novelistic accounts of these three women offer profound insights into the quest for understanding what a society in which women have real power might look like.
©2024 Elizabeth Flock (P)2024 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
-
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
The Washington Post
-
Sensitively reported . . . There is a deep compassion in Flock's account
The New Yorker
-
Flock has written an important and deeply moving book . . . She is a dogged investigative reporter
The Telegraph
-
The Furies delicately unpicks the lives of these three flawed, brave women in an engaging as well as thoughtful way . . . Elizabeth Flock’s 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
TLS
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
Particularly incisive is Flock’s assessment of the ways so-called justice systems pathologize and punish women . . . Flock’s masterstroke [is the] immediacy and occasionally unnerving potency of her mythmaking . . . [The Furies] feels hopeful, even rebellious
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
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
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
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
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
author of No Visible Bruises
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Elizabeth Flock
- Narrator
- Mia Hutchinson Shaw
- Duration
- 12 hours 6 minutes
- Release Date
- 9 January 2024
- ISBN
- 9781405963152
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Genre
- Reportage, journalism or collected columns, Political activism / Political engagement, Feminism and feminist theory, Sexual abuse and harassment
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin.A stunning narrative investigation into three women who rewrote stories of disempowerment into stories of resistance, and wielded violence to fight back against their oppressorsBrittany 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, that was 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 power.In The Furies, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Flock examines the lives 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. In luminous prose, Flock asks searching questions about cultures in which violence seems like the only means of survival, where deeply ingrained ideas about masculinity and women have helped breed the violence that women face. Can women's acts of vengeance help to create lasting change in misogynistic and paternalistic systems, or will they ultimately hurt their cause? The novelistic accounts of these three women offer profound insights into the quest for understanding what a society in which women have real power might look like.©2024 Elizabeth Flock (P)2024 Penguin Audio
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.