Natalie Haynes - No Friend to this House

Natalie Haynes Brings Medea to Stroud

Natalie Haynes — classicist, comedian, and bestselling author of Stone Blind — comes to the Sanctuary Room for a pre-publication gig celebrating the paperback release of her latest novel.

No Friend to This House is her retelling of the Medea myth: priestess, witch, daughter of a brutal king — and the woman who saves Jason's life on his quest for the Golden Fleece, and pays for it.

Haynes takes the Euripides tragedy and makes it her own, telling the story from the side history has always glossed over. If you've read any of her previous retellings, you'll know exactly what you're in for — sharp, funny, devastating in equal measure. If you haven't, this is a very good place to start.

The Sanctuary Room is one of Stroud's more intimate venues, which makes this the kind of author event that's actually an event — not a bookshop reading, but a proper night out with one of the best writers working with ancient myth right now. Tickets £5–£8.50.

Thursday 11 June 2026 · Sanctuary Room, Stroud GL5 2QN · Starts 7:00pm