Stone Blind: the breathtaking Sunday Times bestseller

Description

'So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.' Medusa is the only mortal in a family of gods. Growing up with her sisters, she quickly realizes that she is the only one who gets older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. When the sea god, Poseidon, commits an unforgivable act in her sacred temple the goddess, Athene, takes her revenge on an innocent - and Medusa's life is changed forever. Appalled by her own reflection: snakes have replaced her hair and she realises that her gaze can now turn any living creature to stone. Medusa can no longer look upon anyone she loves without destroying them,, and so condemns herself to a life lived in shadow and solitude to limit her murderous rage. That is, until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon . . .

Natalie Haynes is a writer and broadcaster. She is the author of The Amber Fury, which was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize; The Children of Jocasta, a feminist retelling of the Oedipus and Antigone stories; and two non-fiction books, The Ancient Guide to Modern Life and Pandora's Jar. She has written and presented seven series of the BBC Radio 4 show, Natalie 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. Her third novel, A Thousand Ships, was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020. Stone Blind is her fourth novel.

Witty, gripping, ruthless -- Margaret Atwood via Twitter Beautiful and moving -- Neil Gaiman via Twitter The rollicking narrative voice that energises Stone Blind . . . is a voice that feels at once bitingly (post)modern and filled with old wisdom . . . The Gorgon's head will take on a new and powerful resonance as a symbol of the way stories can be warped by time. Stone Blind acts as a brilliant and compellingly readable corrective. * The Observer * Stone Blind is an exceptionally powerful retelling of Medusa's story, an emotional gut punch of a novel. Haynes brilliantly pulls off the feat of seamlessly alternating humour and heartbreak, creating characters that stay with you long after the novel's end. It is a dazzling achievement -- Elodie Harper, author of The Wolf Den trilogy With this, her third novel based on ancient myth, [Haynes] has found a way of using all her classical erudition and her vivid sense of the ambiguous potency of the ancient stories, while being simultaneously very, very funny * Guardian * A fierce feminist exploration of female rage, written with wit and empathy. Haynes makes the classics brutally relevant, and we reckon this one is going to be huge * Glamour * It is no exaggeration to say that Haynes is the modern embodiment of the best of Homer. She is a proper, classic storyteller, whose linguistic skills and wit will have you hanging on every word * Radio Times * Stone Blind is inventive and playful . . . very funny -- Antonia Senior * The Times * Pat Barker, Margaret Atwood and Madeline Miller have all successfully picked at the seams of the traditionally male take on these fantastic tales. But Natalie Haynes's genius, this time with Stone Blind, her third Greek myth novel, is to not just focus on the female experience of Greek myth but also to add zest, humour and more than a little mischief . . . The ride is gripping, funny and heartbreaking. Love, sorrow, adventure and humour - Stone Blind has it all * Metro * What makes a monster is the central question in Natalie Haynes' wry, spry feminist take on the Medusa myth . . . an earthy, playful yet rage-filled upending of the Greek hero trope * Mail Online * With wit, humanity and extraordinary imagination, Haynes breathes life and meaning into myths as she has done so brilliantly before (most famously with A Thousand Ships). She also shows that monsters can be divine or mortal. Not all heroes wear capes - and not all villains have snakes * The i * 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 -- Sarra Manning * Red Magazine * Natalie Haynes has made a contemporary classic out of a classic . . . and it should win prizes -- Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch There's real tenderness in Haynes's portrait of Medusa, a mortal abomination born into a family of divinities, and the efforts of her immortal Gorgon sisters to protect her from herself -- Daisy Dunn * The Spectator * Haynes is [a] master of her trade . . . She succeeds in breathing warm life into some of our oldest stories * Telegraph * Haynes is the nation's great muse -- Adam Rutherford * The Week * Natalie Haynes is swiftly becoming this generation's Mary Renault * Observer * With her trademark passion, wit and fierce feminism, Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War. Her thoughtful portraits will linger with you long after the book is finished -- Madeline Miller on A Thousand Ships Haynes is a rock-star mythologist -- Washington Post on A Thousand Ships