2022/111: Stone Blind — Natalie Haynes

Medusa is dead, I am dead. But I'm still the best narrator for this part of the story, because I was there for all of it, and because I am not a lying deceitful hateful vicious murderer. [loc. 2567]

This novel is subtitled 'Medusa's Story', but at first it seems like a complex interweaving of the stories of wronged women from Greek mythology: Zeus' first wife Metis; Andromeda, staked out as a sacrifice to Poseidon; Danaë imprisoned in the dark; Hera and Amphitrite, wronged wives. (Hera, 'a goddess with an almost limitless supply of spite, could barely keep up with the number of women, goddesses, nymphs and mewling infants she needed to persecute'. [loc. 77]) Yet it all circles back to Medusa's story, and the implacable hatred of Athene -- 'vengeful and cruel, always blaming women for what men do to them' [loc. 1209] -- whose curse transforms Medusa after Poseidon rapes her in Athene's temple. Does Athene make Medusa into a monster, though? Is Medusa truly the hideous, unlovable horror sought by Perseus? The great hero is an unlikeable and incompetent teenager in this account, constantly whining to Athene and Hermes about the appalling hardships of his quest for a Gorgon's head. Athene does not have much time for him, and in this one thing I am wholly in agreement with her.

It's not all grim. The love between mortal Medusa and her immortal Gorgon sisters, Euryale and Sthenno, is deep and heartfelt: it's the opposite of monstrosity, the epithet levelled at the Gorgons by both Poseidon and Perseus. Hermes, one of the few male characters who behaves decently in the pages of Stone Blind, asks of Perseus 'who are you to decide who is a monster?'. And Medusa tells Poseidon that beauty is more than skin-deep: she sees it in the loving care of her sisters, and she submits to Poseidon to save a (more) mortal girl.

Haynes plays with voices here: it's not only Medusa's story, but a multitude of voices making a mosaic of misogyny, abuse, privilege and trickery. There are chapters told from choruses of entities: a bickering slither of snakes, an olive grove, the Hespereides. There are so many wronged women, their voices distinct but their experiences alike. I'd love to hear this read aloud, as a dramatic performance... One voice is absent: Medusa's mother Ceto, who dwells in the depths of the ocean. But Haynes weaves her into the story, in a way that is both tragic and elegant.

So many connections I hadn't recognised: so many commonalities of experience. Stone Blind isn't always an easy read, but it is a rewarding one: I am reminded that I have several of Haynes' other mythology-based novels, and am encouraged to read them sooner rather than later.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy. UK publication date is 15 SEP 2022, and there's a virtual launch at the British Library.