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.

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.

In twenty-first-century India, tradition is colliding with Western culture, a clash that touches the lives of everyday Indians from the wealthiest to the poorest. While ethnicity, class, and religion are influencing the nation's development, so too are pop culture and technology - an uneasy fusion whose impact is most evident in the institution of marriage. Love and Marriage in Mumbai introduces three couples whose relationships illuminate these sweeping cultural shifts in dramatic ways: Veer and Maya, a forward-thinking professional couple whose union is tested by Maya's desire for independence; Shahzad and Sabeena, whose desperation for a child becomes entwined with the changing face of Islam; and Ashok and Parvati, whose arranged marriage, made possible by an online matchmaker, blossoms into true love. Elizabeth Flock spent close to a decade getting to know these couples-listening to their stories and living in their homes, where she was privy to marital joy, inevitable frustration, dramatic upheaval, and whispered confessions and secrets. The result is a phenomenal feat of reportage that is both an enthralling portrait of a nation in the midst of transition and an unforgettable look at the universal mysteries of love and marriage that connect us all.