THE WOMEN ARE NOT FINE

When midwife Zsuzsanna Fazekas became the official midwife in the village of Nagyrév, Hungary, in 1900, she began listening to the stories of women. They spoke of problems at home –– often with alcoholic, abusive, or absent husbands. 

Auntie Zsuzie offered a solution — arsenic — and a group of women began killing these men, in what spiraled into one of the biggest mass poisoning events in modern history.

In 1929, after an anonymous letter was sent to a newspaper in a nearby town, a police investigation unearthed 50 graves –– and 40 showed signs of arsenic poisoning. But experts say that up to 300 people in Tiszazug –– a rural region south of Budapest –– were killed. Nagyrév was dubbed “the murder district” of Hungary. More than 100 women were held in Szolnok prison, charged with murder.

In The Women Are Not Fine, journalist Hope Reese draws on her reporting background, delving into newspapers, court documents and police records to explore the greatest poisoning epidemic of modern history. Beyond the story itself –– a truth more unbelievable than fiction –– The Women Are Not Fine investigates the myriad causes behind the poisoning, as Reese turns to experts –– from psychologists to sociologists to biologists –– to uncover the truth.

Ultimately, The Women Are Not Fine is a timely book of ideas about what happens when women in a community are suffering. 

Published by Brazen Books UK, an imprint of Hachette, in 2025. Rights sold in Japan and Russia.

Agent: Emma Bal, at The Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency