From Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, creators of the hit absurdist-horror podcast Welcome to Night Vale, comes The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home , the third novel set in the world of the show — following the eponymous first book and its sequel, It Devours!

This entry in the series will focus on the backstory of the title character (who in the podcast is always voiced by former child star Mara Wilson):

In the town of Night Vale, there’s a faceless old woman who secretly lives in everyone’s home, but no one knows how she got there or where she came from…until now.

Told in a series of eerie flashbacks, the story of The Faceless Old Woman goes back centuries to reveal an initially blissful and then tragic childhood on a Mediterranean Estate in the early nineteenth century, her rise in the criminal underworld of Europe, a nautical adventure with a mysterious organization of smugglers, her plot for revenge on the ones who betrayed her, and ultimately her death and its aftermath, as her spirit travels the world for decades until settling in modern-day Night Vale.

Interspersed throughout is a present-day story in Night Vale, as The Faceless Old Woman guides, haunts, and sabotages a man named Craig. In the end, her current day dealings with Craig and her swashbuckling history in nineteenth century Europe will come together in the most unexpected and horrifying way.

Like the books before it, I expect The Faceless Old Woman to be weirdly surreal and terrifying, in all the best ways. It releases on March 24th, 2020.

Pre-order the book in these formats:

• Kindle ($13)
• Apple Books ($13)
• Hardcover ($22)
• Audible audiobook ($27)
• Audio CD ($40)