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A defiantly feminist retelling of the myth of Medea from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Stone Blind.Perfect for fans of The Odyssey* A Marie Claire Best Book of 2026 *Exiled daughter, abandoned wife, vengeful mother. But is that where the truth lies? This is the story of Medea as you’ve never heard it before.Jason and his Argonauts set sail to find the Golden Fleece. The journey is filled with danger, and if Jason ever reaches the distant land he seeks, he faces almost certain death.Medea – priestess, witch, and daughter of the brutal king who jealously guards the fleece – has the power to save Jason's life. Will she betray her family and her home?Burning with desire for this stranger, as the gods intend, Medea chooses Jason over her kin. But their love is steeped in vengeance from the beginning, and no one – not even those closest to them – will be safe when their passion is spent . . .Based on the classic tragedy by Euripides, this is Medea as you’ve never seen her before . .

Natalie Haynes, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of A Thousand Ships, brings life to the infamous myth of Medusa with a heartbreaking, feminist retelling unlike any other.Longlisted for the Women's Prize for FictionIn Stone Blind, the instant Sunday Times bestseller, Natalie Haynes brings the infamous Medusa to life as you have never seen her before.'Witty, gripping, ruthless' – Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale, via X (Twitter)‘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 loo

在以珀耳修斯為中心的故事裡，梅杜莎註定成為令人膽寒的邪惡怪物。美麗聰慧、虔心奉獻的神殿祭司何以成為詛咒下的駭人女妖？當我們撥開這層僅剩恐懼與惡的扁平形象後，才能看見在幾乎被化約成相貌醜陋的殘忍毒婦之前，她所經歷的悲慘遭遇。繼柔卡絲塔與卡利俄佩，Natalie Hayne再次把說故事的權利，還給神話裡被寥寥數語帶過的女性角色。'Witty, gripping, ruthless' - Margaret Atwood via Twitter'Beautiful and moving' - Neil Gaiman via Twitter'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. And her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know.When the sea god Poseidon commits an unforgivable act in the temple of Athene, the goddess takes her revenge where she can – and Medusa is changed forever. Writhing snakes replace her hair, and her gaze now turns any living creature to stone. The power cannot be controlled: Medusa can look at nothing without destroying it. She is condemned to a life of sha

A Paperback Original—Also Available as a Hardcover Library EditionThe national bestselling author of A Thousand Ships returns with a fascinating, eye-opening take on the remarkable women at the heart of classical stories Greek mythology from Helen of Troy to Pandora and the Amazons to Medea.“Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to, and how they sometimes made idiots of . . . but read on!”—Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's TaleThe tellers of Greek myths—historically men—have routinely sidelined the female characters. When they do take a larger role, women are often portrayed as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil—like Pandora, the woman of eternal scorn and damnation whose curiosity is tasked with causing all the world’s suffering and wickedness when she opened that forbidden box. But, as Natalie Hayes reveals, in early Greek myths there was no box. It was a jar . . . which is far more likely to tip over. In Pandora's Jar, the broadcas

"Reinterprets two of Sophocles' Theban plays, Oedipus Tyrannus and Antigone. . . . the alternating structure proves powerful."--The New Yorker"A passionate and gripping account of a famously dysfunctional family. Haynes balances a fresh take on the material with a deep love for her sources, wearing her scholarship with grace, and giving new voice to the often-overlooked but fascinating Jocasta and Ismene."--Madeline Miller, New York Times bestselling author of The Song of Achilles and CirceThe New York Times bestselling author of Pandora's Jar and Stone Blind returns with a powerful retelling of Oedipus and Antigone from the perspectives of the women the myths overlooked.When you have grown up as I have, there is no security in not knowing things, in avoiding the ugliest truths because they can't be faced . . . Because that is what happened the last time, and that is why my siblings and I have grown up in a cursed house, children of cursed parents . . .Jocasta is just fifteen when she

在以珀耳修斯為中心的故事裡，梅杜莎註定成為令人膽寒的邪惡怪物。美麗虔誠的神殿祭司何以成為詛咒下的駭人女妖？當我們撥開這層僅剩恐懼與惡的扁平形象後，才能看見在幾乎被化約成相貌醜陋的殘忍毒婦之前，她所經歷的悲慘遭遇。繼柔卡絲塔與卡利俄佩，Natalie Hayne再次把說故事的權利，還給神話裡被寥寥數語帶過的女性角色。Natalie Haynes - the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of A Thousand Ships - 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. And her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. When the sea god Poseidon commits an unforgivable act in the temple of Athene, the goddess takes her revenge where she can - and Medusa is changed forever.Writhing snakes replace her hair, and her gaze now turns any living creature to stone. The power cannot be controlled: Medusa can look at nothing without destroying i

'Natalie Haynes is the nation's muse' Adam RutherfordThe Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the

In the many retellings of the Greek myths, the focus is generally on gods and heroes, but Natalie Haynes refocuses our gaze on the remarkable women at the centre of these ancient stories.

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for FictionPowerfully told from an all-female perspective, in A Thousand Ships, classicist and author of Divine Might, Natalie Haynes retells the story of the Trojan War – putting the women, girls and goddesses at the centre of the story.For fans of Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls.''With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Natalie Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War'' – Madeline Miller, author of CirceThis was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddess

Thebes is a city in mourning, still reeling from a devastating attack of plague that invaded every home and left the survivors devastated and fearful. This is the Thebes that Jocasta has known her ent

A stunning reimagining of the Oedipus and Antigone stories told from the perspectives of the women the myths overlooked.In The Children of Jocasta, Natalie Haynes retells the Oedipus and Antigone stories from the perspectives of the women the myths overlooked. My siblings and I have grown up in a cursed house, children of cursed parents... Jocasta is just fifteen when she is told that she must marry the King of Thebes, an old man she has never met. Her life has never been her own, and nor will it be, unless she outlives her strange, absent husband.Ismene is the same age when she is attacked in the palace she calls home. Since the day of her parents' tragic deaths a decade earlier, she has always longed to feel safe with the family she still has. But with a single act of violence, all that is about to change.With the turn of these two events, a tragedy is set in motion. But not as you know it.

"Steady pacing paired with well-timed foreshadowing and fully realized characters make this one compelling from the beginning. Fans of Donna Tartt'sThe Secret History (1992), Erin Kelly's The

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a gorgeous retelling of the Trojan War from the perspectives of the many women involved in its causes and consequences—for fans of Madeline Miller.“With