Natalie Haynes has been compared with Mary Renault, the historical novelist who scandalised readers in the 1950s with her unflinching portrayal of homosexual relationships in ancient Greece. While the comparison isn’t quite right – their prose styles could hardly be more different – Haynes is certainly alert to what rankles most deeply in modern society, and the ways in which these issues may shape attitudes to antiquity.
In Stone Blind, her retelling of the Medusa myth, women emerge from the other side of #MeToo and reveal the gods and heroes for the dolts and sexual predators they always were. ‘I’m moving because you’re sitting so close that your hip was touching mine and I didn’t like it,’ Athene explains to Hephaestus. A few moments later, the lame-footed god ejaculates on her thigh anyway, proving that even goddesses have a way to go in making their words count.
The Graiai’s comedic potential is obvious once you know they share a single eye and tooth
The sea god Poseidon is the creepiest.
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