'Witty, gripping, ruthless' – Margaret Atwood via Twitter

'Beautiful and moving' – Neil Gaiman

‘A fierce feminist exploration of female rage, written with wit and empathy’ – Glamour

‘Haynes’ clever, empathetic writing transforms Medusa from Gorgon into a girl, who’s a victim of the cruel machinations of the gods and of circumstance.’ – Red

‘brilliant and compellingly readable.’ – Observer

‘feminist, funny and thought provoking.’ – Mail on Sunday

‘Stone Blind is inventive and playful. There is a debt to Aristophanes; the depiction of the absurdities of the bickering gods is very funny’ – Times

‘With wit, humanity and extraordinary imagination, Haynes breathes life and meaning into myths as she has done so brilliantly before.’ – iPaper

Stone Blind

Medusa’s Story

by Natalie Haynes
Paperback / 8 June 2023 / Picador / £9.99

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023

In Stone Blind, the instant Sunday Times bestseller, Natalie Haynes brings the infamous Medusa to life as you have never seen her before.

‘So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters’

Medusa is the sole mortal in a family of gods. Growing up with her Gorgon sisters, she begins to realize that she is the only one who experiences change, the only one who can be hurt.

When Poseidon commits an unforgiveable act against Medusa in the temple of Athene, the goddess takes her revenge where she can: on his victim. Medusa is changed forever – writhing snakes for hair and her gaze now turns any living creature to stone. She can look at nothing without destroying it.

Desperate to protect her beloved sisters, Medusa condemns herself to a life of shadows. Until Perseus embarks upon a quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon . . .

ABOUT NATALIE HAYNES

Natalie Haynes is a writer and broadcaster. She is the author of novels THE AMBER FURY, shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize; THE CHILDREN OF JOCASTA, a feminist retelling of the Oedipus and Antigone stories; A THOUSAND SHIPS (shortlisted for the Women’s Prize), a retelling of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective and STONE BLIND a re-telling of the Medusa story (long listed for the Women’s Prize); and non-fiction books THE ANCIENT GUIDE TO MODERN LIFE and PANDORA’S JAR about the women in Greek myths. DIVINE MIGHT: GODDESSES IN GREEK MYTH will be published in September. She has written and presented seven series of the BBC Radio 4 show, NATALIES HAYNES STANDS UP FOR THE CLASSICS. In 2015, she was awarded the Classical Association Prize for her work in bringing Classics to a wider audience.

For further information please contact:

EMMA FINNIGAN PR

07870 210468 | emma@emmafinniganpr.co.uk | @emmafinnigan | www.emmafinniganpr.co.uk