Audio only
Unreasonable Women
Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary SurvivalBy Justine van der LeunNarrated by Justine van der LeunLength10h 45m
About this audiobook
A groundbreaking account of how the legal system punishes those it purports to protect, told through the stories of three unforgettable women
When award-winning journalist Justine van der Leun began researching the issue of criminalized survival, she was astonished to see women being imprisoned for protecting themselves against abuse. This sparked an intensive, years-long investigation into how survivors are targeted for prosecution, leading her to collect more than a thousand personal accounts from women’s prisons across America.
In Unreasonable Women, van der Leun tells the propulsive, shocking, and intimate stories of three extraordinary women who, finding themselves caught in the direst circumstances, had to kill to survive. Tanisha is a spirited Michigan mother determined to help authorities solve a cold case, whatever the consequences. Jema is a softhearted Missouri factory worker struggling to keep her family together while navigating a dangerous relationship. TC is a bold Californian trying to escape generations of trauma and a toxic family environment. In each case, the women's childhood abuse was replicated in adulthood—until they were forced to make an impossible choice.
A work of literary reportage that reads like a crime novel, Unreasonable Women is the result of seven years of unprecedented research and on-the-ground reporting in U.S. prisons. It is the story of women and violence in America, a wake-up call about a broken system, and the moving narrative of three women who find hope and humanity in the unlikeliest of places.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★★ 4.9 (13)
Includes Goodreads
GenrePsychology, Politics and Government
Length10 hrs 45 mins
Narrated byJustine van der Leun
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJun 2, 2026
LanguageEnglish
What to Make of a LifeJim Collins13h 31m4.4 (794)$33 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
TerraformPropaganda5h 39m4.7 (594)$24 · $0.00
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett2h 44m4.6 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
Hour of the HeartIrvin D. Yalom, Benjamin Yalom8h 19m4.6 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m4.6 (1.2K)$26 · $0.00
Saint Joan (Annotated)George Bernard Shaw6h 20m4.6 (1.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m4.6 (543)$29 · $0.00
Woman and the New Race (Annotated)Margaret Sanger6h 30m4.6 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m4.5 (59.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Mis-Education of the NegroCarter Godwin Woodson5h 4m4.5 (29.4K)$1.20 · $0.00
Du Bois: EssaysW.E.B. Du Bois6h 22m4.6 (1.5K)$1 · $0.00
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge5h 59m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Valley of the BirdtailAndrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson10h 1m4.6 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
Lies My Therapist Told MeGreg E. Gifford9h 3m4.6 (503)$29 · $0.00
Black AF HistoryMichael Harriot15h 43m4.7 (14.6K)$33 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
KrantikariSanjeev Sanyal11h 44m4.6 (1.3K)$16 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
RiggedMollie Hemingway12h 48m4.6 (4.2K)$23 · $0.00
SledgehammerDavid Friedman8h 21m4.7 (589)$26 · $0.00
Citizenship in a Republic (Annotated)Theodore Roosevelt2h 44m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Always FaithfulThomas Schueman, Zainullah Zaki12h 12m4.6 (977)$29 · $0.00
UnthinkableJamie Raskin15h 8m4.5 (9.3K)$8 · $0.00
My Fourth Time, We DrownedSally Hayden13h 59m4.6 (2.9K)$23 · $0.00
A Revolution of Common SenseScott Jennings9h 29m4.6 (528)$29 · $0.00
Statement From the Dock at the Rivonia TrialNelson Mandela2h 18m4.6 (1.3K)$1 · $0.00
Lessons from the EdgeMarie Yovanovitch17h 11m4.5 (5.9K)$40 · $0.00
To Rescue the American SpiritBret Baier10h 12m4.5 (2.7K)$8 · $0.00
StonewalledSharyl Attkisson15h 19m4.5 (4.3K)$33 · $0.00
You may also like
Living BraveShannon Dingle5h 3m4.2 (406)$24 · $0.00
Noah’s RightsKenni York7h 47m4.6 (408)$20
Home for Wounded HeartsAshley Farley6h 27m4.5 (2.3K)$20
The DirtTommy Lee, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars14h 44m4.3 (65.3K)$8 · $0.00
My Glory Was I Had Such FriendsAmy Silverstein12h 21m4.2 (3.1K)$29 · $0.00
Three Little WordsAshley Rhodes-Courter8h 20m4.4 (18.7K)$17
Carmen and GraceMelissa Coss Aquino15h 17m4.1 (1.8K)$33 · $0.00
12 Years a SlaveSolomon Northup7h 36m4.3 (159K)$23
The Love You SaveGoldie Taylor7h 25m4.3 (1.6K)$24 · $0.00
The Color of Our SkyAmita Trasi11h 49m4.3 (15.7K)$29 · $0.00
Twelve Years a SlaveSolomon Northup7h 48m4.3 (140.2K)$20
Keep Pain in the PastDr. Chris Cortman, Dr. Joseph Walden7h 50m4.1 (476)$20 · $0.00
A Thread of TruthMarie Bostwick12h 18m4.1 (5.9K)$23
Before I Let You GoKelly Rimmer12h 11m4.2 (67.4K)$29 · $0.00
The JungleUpton Sinclair13h 17m3.9 (186.5K)$23
The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah PrisonMeredith Jaffe11h 30m4.1 (4.1K)$29 · $0.00
Enough!L. David Harris2h 56m3.8 (161)$14
One More Chance: The story of Benny Se Teo from heroin addict to restaurant bossColin Cheong3h 19m3.8 (14)$9 · $0.00
Reclaiming Your MoneyImad Muratspahic3h 43m$14 · $0.00
The Bitter Cry of the ChildrenJohn Spargo9h 12m3.9 (185)$1 · $0.00