No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes

No Friend to This House is an extraordinary reimagining of the myth of Medea from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes.

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'Muse, sorceress, high priestess, Haynes is all of these, but above all she is the consummate storyteller.' — Adam Rutherford

‘Natalie Haynes is a once-in-a-generation storyteller, and No Friend to This House is her masterpiece.’ — Dr. Amanda Foreman

‘This book is about many things: the true nature of heroism, ancient magic, loyalty and family, but, most of all, it is a tapestry of choices dictated by sorrow, spite and survival. Another masterpiece from Haynes.’ — Costanza Casati

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No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes

No Friend to This House
by Natalie Haynes

11th September 2025 • Mantle • HB fiction • £20

This is what no one tells you, in the songs sung about Jason and the Argo. This part of his quest has been forgotten, by everyone but me . . .

Jason and his Argonauts set sail to find the Golden Fleece. The journey is filled with danger, for him and everyone he meets. But if he ever reaches the distant land he seeks, he faces almost certain death.

Medea – priestess, witch, and daughter of a brutal king – has the power to save the life of a stranger. Will she betray her family and her home, and what will she demand in return?

Medea and Jason seize their one chance of a life together, as the gods intend. But their love is steeped in vengeance from the beginning, and no one – not even those closest to them – will be safe.

Based on the classic tragedy by Euripides, this is Medea as you've never seen her before…

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Natalie Haynes is a Sunday Times bestselling writer and broadcaster. She is the author of novels The Amber Fury, shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize; The Children of Jocasta, a feminist retelling of the Oedipus and Antigone stories; A Thousand Ships (shortlisted for the Women’s Prize), a retelling of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective and Stone Blind, a re-telling of the Medusa story (long listed for the Women’s Prize). Her non-fiction books include The Ancient Guide to Modern Life; Pandora’s Jar, about the women in Greek myths, and Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth. She has written and presented 11 series of the BBC Radio 4 show, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics. In 2015, she was awarded the Classical Association Prize for her work in bringing Classics to a wider audience.

Instagram: @nataliehaynesauthor
Facebook: nataliehaynesstandupclassicist

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Selected praise for Natalie Haynes

‘Witty, gripping, ruthless’ – Margaret Atwood on Stone Blind

‘Passionate and gripping’ – Madeline Miller on The Children of Jocasta

‘[Haynes] deftly drags the classics into the modern world.’ – Kate Atkinson

‘Haynes is a master of her trade..’ – Daily Telegraph

‘Fiercely feminist . . . A many-layered delight’ – The Guardian on A Thousand Ships

‘Haynes’ clever, empathetic writing transforms Medusa from Gorgon into a girl, who’s a victim of the cruel machinations of the gods and of circumstance.’ Red on Stone Blind

‘feminist, funny and thought provoking.’ – Mail on Sunday on Stone Blind

‘her zingy, lively style will bring these myths to a new, younger audience, especially girls…’ - Herald on Divine Might

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Tour Dates

• Tuesday 9th September - Bloomsbury Theatre, London

• Wednesday 10th September - The Stoller Hall, Manchester

• Friday 12th September - Malvern Theatre

• Saturday 13th September – Bath Komedia

• Monday 15th September - The Junction, Cambridge

• Tuesday 16th September - The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford

• Thursday 18th September – Blake Theatre, Monmouth

• Saturday 20th September - Storyhouse, Chester

• Sunday 21st September - Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh

• Monday 22nd September - Hexham Queens Hall

• Sunday 28th September - Mannington Book Bash

• Tuesday 30th September - Warwick Arts Centre

• Friday 10th October - Cheltenham Literary Festival

• Saturday 18th October – Canterbury Festival

• Friday 28th November - Hay Winter Weekend

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For publicity enquiries please contact Emma Finnigan.

Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes

In traditional retellings of the Greek myths, the focus is invariably on gods and men, but in Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, Natalie Haynes refocuses our gaze on the remarkable women at the centre of these ancient stories.

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'Hugely enjoyable and witty' - The Guardian

‘Agile, rich, subversive, Pandora's Jar proves that the classics are far from dead, and keep evolving with us.' - Madeleine Feeny, Mail on Sunday

'Haynes is a brilliant classicist as well as a stand-up comedian and with her latest offering, Pandora's Jar, she has effectively written the first textbook codifying this new feminist take on the Greek myths.' - Neil Mackay, Herald

‘Haynes…puts the women of Greek myths on equal footing with the menfolk in an exploration of their stories, motivations and myths. Written in Haynes’ immediately gripping and readable style, we get the stories of Medea – a seriously powerful girl – who ends up betrayed by Jason as well as deep dive into the stories of The Amazons, Penelope and Phaedra to name a few. Both fascinating and incredibly researched if you want to catch up on your Greek myths, this is the place to start.’ - Stylist

‘Beyoncé, Star Trek, Ray Harryhausen ...  the most enjoyable book about Greek myths you will ever read, absolutely brimming with subversive enthusiasm.’ — Mark Haddon

‘Natalie Haynes is beyond brilliant. Pandora’s Jar is a treasure box of classical delights. Never has ancient misogyny been presented with so much wit and style.’ — Amanda Foreman

‘Witty, erudite and subversive, this takes the women of Greek myth—the women who are sidelined, vilified, misunderstood or ignored—and puts them centre stage.’ — Samantha Ellis

‘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 Tale

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Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

Picador / paperback / 13 May 2021 / £9.99 / non-fiction

Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, from Jason and the Argonauts to the wars of Troy. Today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost three thousand years ago. But modern tellers of Greek myth have usually been men and have rarely shown interest in telling women’s stories. And when they do, those women are often painted as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil. But Pandora – the first woman, who according to legend unloosed chaos upon the world – was not a villain to the Greeks, Helen didn’t always start a war, and even Medea and Phaedra have vastly more nuanced stories than generations of retellings might indicate.

Now, in Pandora’s Jar, Natalie Haynes – broadcaster, writer and passionate classicist – redresses this imbalance. Taking Pandora and her jar (the box was a mistranslation by Erasmus) as the starting point, she puts the women of the Greek myths on equal footing with the menfolk. After millennia of stories telling of gods and men, be they Zeus, Odysseus or Oedipus, the voices that sing from these pages are those of Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Eurydice and Penelope.

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About Natalie Haynes

'Natalie Haynes is the nation's great muse' — Adam Rutherford 

Natalie Haynes is the author of five books. A Thousand Ships, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020. Her earlier books include: The Children of Jocasta (2017), The Amber Fury (2014), and The Ancient Guide to Modern Life (2010). She has written and recorded six series of Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics for BBC Radio 4. Natalie has written for The Times, The Independent, The Guardian and The Observer.

Visit Natalie’s Twitter | Facebook | Website 

For more information on this book, please contact Emma Finnigan.