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Stone Blind

A Novel

by Natalie Haynes

Narrator Natalie Haynes

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Length 8 hours 39 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“This is not just a book about Medusa, it's about the gods who use her, her gorgon sisters, her killer Perseus...and her head. Haynes grounds these characters in the original mythology so well that that each voice is distinct, every action and mistake preceded by its motivating circumstance, and each monster shown with respect and humanity. It is impossible not to care about these characters...and not to laugh at their dialog. Haynes' sentences are packed with description, but lean, active, and life-like. A chef's kiss of a book and a must-read for those who love modern retellings of mythology”
— Victoria • BookShop West Portal

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About the author
About the narrator

#5 in Bestselling Classics Audiobooks

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023

""Haynes is master of her trade . . . She succeeds in breathing warm life into some of our oldest stories.”—Telegraph (UK)

The national bestselling author of A Thousand Ships and Pandora's Jar returns with a fresh and stunningly perceptive take on the story of Medusa, the original monstered woman.

They will fear you and flee you and call you a monster.

The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. Unlike her siblings, Medusa grows older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know.

When the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene’s temple, the goddess is enraged. Furious by the violation of her sacred space, Athene takes revenge—on the young woman. Punished for Poseidon’s actions, Medusa is forever transformed. Writhing snakes replace her hair and her gaze will turn any living creature to stone. Cursed with the power to destroy all she loves with one look, Medusa condemns herself to a life of solitude.

Until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon . . .

In Stone Blind, classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes turns our understanding of this legendary myth on its head, bringing empathy and nuance to one of the earliest stories in which a woman—injured by a powerful man—is blamed, punished, and monstered for the assault. Delving into the origins of this mythic tale, Haynes revitalizes and reconstructs Medusa’s story with her passion and fierce wit, offering a timely retelling of this classic myth that speaks to us today.

Classics Fiction Historical Fiction Fiction - Literary

Natalie Haynes is the author of six books, including the nonfiction work Pandora’s Jar, which was a New York Times bestseller, and the novels A Thousand Ships, which was a national bestseller and short-listed for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, and Stone Blind. She has written and recorded nine series of Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics for the BBC. Haynes has written for the Times, the Independent, the Guardian, and the Observer. She lives in London.