The Faceless Thing We Adore
Hester Steel
August 2025
Eat, Pray, Love goes full Lovecraft in this queer, feel-good cosmic horror that reflects on gaslighting and emotional abuse.
Lemon, poppy seed, sun-warmed sand. These visions convince Aoife to quit her job, leave her manipulative boyfriend, and escape to the isolated shores of the Farmstead commune. There, among its charismatic and hedonistic residents, Aoife finds everything she’s been missing: a community that adores her, the freedom to indulge, and the promise to be a part of something miraculous.
But darkness underpins her airy new way of life. A disappearing cave looms above an ocean no one dares step foot in, mysterious crying fills the night hours, and a rot is spreading across the island. But perhaps most concerning is the commune’s reverence for their leader, Jonah―a love tinged with fear that Aoife knows all too well.
When Aoife’s boring old life comes crashing into her bold new one, loyalties are tested, unleashing a spiral of unspeakable violence that threatens to fracture reality itself. At the helm, Aoife finds herself desperately trying to protect everyone and everything she’s grown to love. Awkward, clumsy Aoife, who was always told she was weak, will soon realize the depths of her strength―and the pleasures of her rage.
Praise
"Vivid, poignant, and refreshingly imaginative, The Faceless Thing We Adore is a powerfully absorbing exploration of trauma and fury laced with Eldritch terror. Hester Steel has crafted a vision so unique, so intensely arresting that I'll be thinking about this book and these richly drawn characters for quite some time . . . "
-Eric LaRocca
author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
"This culty-sporror story unsettled me to my core!"
-Sadie Hartmann
author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered
"By turns beautiful and terrible, it's a story I'll never forget."
-CJ Dotson
author of The Cut
"A dark ,dreamy, and cosmic exploration of a woman's search for identity and freedom with jaw-dropping twists. A highly recommended read."
-Morgan Dante
author of The Saint of Heartbreak
In the Media
Publisher's Weekly
"Writing in gory, gorgeous prose, the author makes both the emotional and the eldritch stakes sky-high, and her masterful tension building keeps the pages flying. This goes for the jugular."
Buzz Books Official
"They explore the novel's evolution from comedy to horror, the development of characters like Aoife, and the extensive research into cults that informed the story. Alexandra highlights the blend of horror with human elements and praises the novel's realistic and compelling character portrayals."
Reactor Magazine
"A queer, feel-good cosmic horror that reflects on gaslighting and emotional abuse."