The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Haynes, Natalie. Stone Blind. HarperCollins Publishers, 2022.

Natalie Haynes's novel Stone Blind is a retelling of the classic Medusa and Perseus Greek myth. The novel is written from a range of alternating first and third person points of view. The author uses both the past and the present tenses, and often embraces formal invention and temporal distortion. Such formal techniques act in service of the author's thematic explorations. For the sake of clarity, the following summary relies upon the present tense and a primarily linear mode of explanation.

Shortly after Medusa is born to the sea gods Ceto and Phorcys, her parents deposit her on the shores of a Libyan island where her sisters Sthenno and Euryale reside. As soon as the Gorgon sisters find Medusa, they know that she is a mortal. However, because she is also a Gorgon, a winged and tusked creature, they adopt her as their own. At first, the sisters are unsure how to care for a mortal child. As time passes, however, both Sthenno and Euryale begin to feel like Medusa's mothers. Their love for her is so encompassing, they feel powerless to control it.

When Medusa is 16 years old, she begs her sisters to visit the temple of Athene. Although worried about her safety, the Gorgons finally agree to let her go. While Medusa is studying the statues in the temple, the god of the sea Poseidon appears. When he insists that Medusa submit to his power, she refuses and Poseidon rapes her.

Ashamed and confused, Medusa returns to the island and hides in the cave. When her sisters divine what has happened to her, they promise to keep Poseidon from hurting her in the future. Not long later, however, Athene discovers what Poseidon did in her temple. Because she cannot punish the offending god, she turns her wrath on Medusa. She steals Medusa's hair, replacing it with snakes like her sisters. She also blinds Medusa. She cannot open her eyes because she has discovered that any creature she regards will turn to stone.

Meanwhile, the demi-god Perseus is living on the island of Seriphos with his mother Danaë and his adoptive father Dictys. Dictys saved Danaë and Perseus from drowning when Perseus was just a baby. Over the years following, the three created a family and a home together on the island. Their life is happy and comfortable until Dictys's jealous brother King Polydectes appears and insists upon marrying Danaë. Perseus rushes to his mother's defense. Polydectes says he will only leave Danaë alone if Perseus can return to Seriphos with the head of a Gorgon within the next two months.

Because Perseus does not know how to complete his mission, his father Zeus sends Athene and Hermes to help him. The gods give him advice on where to find the Gorgons and how to defeat Medusa. After decapitating Medusa, Perseus puts her head in a sack and flees the island. Although Medusa is dead, her decapitated head, the Gorgoneion, retains consciousness. Over the course of Perseus's journey back to Seriphos, he uses the Gorgoneion as his weapon. Each time he encounters an individual or creature he perceives as an obstacle to his mission, he withdraws the Gorgoneion from the sack and turns them to stone.

Athene eventually convinces Zeus to let her take the Gorgoneion from Perseus. She then affixes the head to her breastplate. She later lets the Gorgoneion turn her to stone after finally admitting her own loneliness and longing.