Natalie Haynes: On Inserting Human Depth Into an Epic Adventure
In this interview, author Natalie Haynes discusses taking on retelling a favorite myth with her new novel, No Friend to this House.
Natalie Haynes is the author of eight books, including the nonfiction work Pandora’s Jar, which was a New York Times bestseller, and the novels A Thousand Ships, which was a national bestseller and short-listed for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, and Stone Blind. She has written and recorded 11 series of "Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics" for the BBC. Haynes has written for the Times, the Independent, The Guardian, and the Observer. She lives in London. Follow her on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, and TikTok.
In this interview, Natalie discusses taking on retelling a favorite myth with her new novel, No Friend to this House, her advice for other writers, and more.
Name: Natalie Haynes
Literary agent: Peter Straus
Book title: No Friend to this House
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release date: March 10, 2026
Genre/category: Literary fiction
Previous titles: A Thousand Ships, Pandora’s Jar, Stone Blind, Divine Might, The Children of Jocasta
Elevator pitch: A retelling of the voyage of the Argo, the quest for the Golden Fleece, and the destructive passion that forms between Medea and Jason.
What prompted you to write this book?
I read Euripides’ Medea (in Greek!) when I was 17; I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. I wrote my undergrad dissertation on women killing children (in plays…). I still think it’s the best play ever written: It asks so many questions about what it means to be a clever woman in a man’s world, a foreigner in a Greek world, a refugee, a mother, a lover, and rage incarnate.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
Ha, about 30 years! And I’ve probably seen 20 or 30 productions of the Euripides play in that time (I’ve seen it in English, Dutch, Greek, and most recently Japanese). I wasn’t ready to start writing it until a couple of years ago, though. I had to find my own versions of Medea and Jason, particularly.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
The book came out in the U.K. last September, and I took a show out on tour to mark publication (I used to be a stand-up comedian. If you want to know more about the ancient world, you can always listen to my BBC podcast, “Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics”). I had no idea there were so many other people obsessed with Medea, but we packed out theaters for a month. Insane.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I was so concerned about taking on a myth I care about as much as this and not being tough enough to deal with such a powerful character that I started weight-training six months before I began it. I can deadlift 90kg now—198 lbs.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I’ve tried to put real human depth into an epic adventure story. So, I hope they’ll discover parts of the myth they didn’t know, and I hope they’ll reconsider the parts they did know.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Read it aloud! You’ll notice your typos so much quicker that way. You’ll also pick up the words or phrases you overuse and fix them before anyone else has to be annoyed by them.
