Stone Blind

Medusa's Story

By: Natalie Haynes

Narrated by: Natalie Haynes

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023

This audio edition is read by the author, Natalie Haynes.

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 . . .

©2022 Natalie Haynes (P)2022 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Critic reviews

'Natalie Haynes energizes the melodrama of ancient Greek gods with a divine level of storyteller’s flair...Listeners who enjoy transformative retellings of Greek myths will find much to relish in this production.' - AudioFile

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

'Beautiful and moving' – Neil Gaiman

Spectacular!

Something special happens when authors narrate their own stories. The author knows every little thing about each character. In this case Natalie Haynes brings the story to life in a way that is only possible with the intimate knowledge she has not only of her story but also the myths and legends from which they were born.

Exceptional

Left me in real tears.
Only one part i truly wished for a more gut wrenching sequence of events - and that is only because Natalie proved quite early on that she could easily bring my heart to its knees - but i dare not spoil anything with my own preference.
Could not recommend more - hit all the sweet spots for a great lover of Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint

Beautiful book and narration

I enjoyed this book so much and the narration is one of the best I've heard. Beautiful written moving, and entertaining. I will probably read it again at some point.

excellent!

A refreshing, entertaining and enlightening retelling of the Medusa story!
Natalie Haynes injects the right mix of tragedy, comedy and respect to these varied characters and perspectives.

Not bad but not great

There were parts of this book that were very funny and well written while the rest was a bit of a let down. For those of you hoping for a full story from Medusa’s perspective let me save you from disappointment now and let you know that it’s definitely not the case for Stone Blind.

The head hopping in this book almost gave me whiplash. While as a mythology lover I can appreciate what Haynes has attempted with this book in all the different perspectives but it feels too all over the place. Overall I think the whole book would be much better as a play because it is very much written that way. As a book it’s a little lacklustre and I don’t feel the writing was strong enough.

Haynes also narrates the audiobook and while she does a passable job, in comparison to some of the other narrators I’ve spent time with on Audible, she is one note in her narration and her writing.

Overall not a bad book but it did not blow me away like some of the other mythology retellings I have read in the past from some of Haynes’ contemporaries.