Synopsis
'Haynes is the modern embodiment of the best of Homer' - Radio Times
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.
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 he 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 a 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 . . .
Praise for Natalie Haynes:
'Witty, gripping, ruthless' - Margaret Atwood on Stone Blind
'Fiercely feminist . . . A many-layered delight' - The Guardian on A Thousand Ships
'Passionate and gripping' - Madeline Miller on The Children of Jocasta
Details
18 June 2026
9781529061567Reviews
It's superb: sharp, funny, inventive, powerfully humane
Natalie Haynes is a once-in-a-generation storyteller, and No Friend to This House is her masterpiece. Haynes does not so much retell the myth of Medea as excavate it, layer by devastating layer, for truths both timeless and timely. This is a stunning novel that cuts to the bone
Haynes' Medea is especially striking - both fearless witch and desperate lover - capturing all the facets and contradictions of the character in the ancient sources . . . Another masterpiece from Haynes
Witty, gripping, ruthless
