Stone Blind

Natalie Haynes’s Stone Blind was published in 2022. A retelling of the Greek myth of Medusa and Perseus’ quest to use the Gorgon’s head to free the captive Princess Andromeda, Stone Blind incorporates elements of biography and memoir along with epics like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. A noted classicist, Haynes has written several fictional retellings of ancient Greco-Roman myths, from the Trojan War in A Thousand Ships to the Oedipal myth in The Children of Jocasta. Appearing for several seasons on BBC Radio 4 for her series Natalie Haynes Defends the Classics, she has also authored nonfiction works about the ancient world from The Ancient Guide to Modern Life to the more recent Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myth. Stone Blind, like some of Haynes’s other fiction, traces an untold story—that of Medusa’s origins. The novel explores themes of Appearance and Monstrosity, Coping With Trauma, and Consent, Justice, and Violence.

This guide refers to the 2022 hardback edition, published by HarperCollins.

Content Warning: Stone Blind includes anti-gay bias, ableism, implied death by suicide, misogyny, and sexual violence.