In this profoundly moving book, Emmy-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.

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. And 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? 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.