Bury our bones in the midnight soil (International Edition)
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“Unmissable... Nobody can write like V. E. Schwab” —Jodi Picoult
#1 New York Times bestseller • #1 USA Today bestseller • #1 National Indie bestseller • #1 IndieNext List, June 2025
A MOST ANTICIPATED Pick from USA Today • New York Times Book Review • US Weekly • ELLE • TIME • Betches • AutoStraddle• Katie Couric Media • Men’s Health • Woman’s World • Reader’s Digest • Goodreads • Paste Magazine • The Nerd Daily • BookRiot • Bookbub • ScreenRant • The Portalist • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal
The new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger from V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.
This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.
This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.
This is a story about life—how it ends, and how it starts.
"Schwab has impressively woven a compelling character drama and feminist critique into a horror thriller...sumptuous descriptions of place and time, and the slow-burn melodrama between each of the women... a tale told sharply but sweetly enough it goes down as easy as that happy-hour cocktail that, surprisingly, knocks you flat." —New York Times
“Schwab sends you whirling through a dizzying kaleidoscopic adventure through centuries filled with love, loss, art and war—all the while dazzling your senses with hundreds of tiny magical moments along the way.” —Naomi Novik
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Community Reviews
What’s it about?
Spanning from Europe in the early 1500s to Boston in 2019, we meet three queer women who have been “planted in the midnight soil”. Basically, we meet three different female vampires in three separate centuries. As their paths cross, the story deepens.
What did it make me think about?
Vampires- really?
Should I read it?
I didn’t realize this was a vampire book when I first picked it up. I had read “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” and enjoyed it. I saw this on some “best of” lists and thought I would try it. Two hundred pages in, I was kicking myself. I like V.E. Schwab’s writing style. However, I didn’t like these characters. I also found the first 300 pages relatively dull and slow. The last 200 pages picked up, but it was too late to save this one for me. Basically, this is not a book I would recommend to anyone who is not a real hardcore fantasy fan.
Quote-
“Sixty minutes to an hour.
Twenty-four hours to a day.
These are mortal measurements, for mortal lives.
But when you live forever, time is something far less constant.
When you are happy, a decade rushes by.
When you are sad, a minute crawls.
When you are lonely and afraid, time seems to lose all meaning.
Blink, and a year is gone.
Blink, and it has only been a night.
Only, it is not a life at all.
It is a prison sentence.”
V.E. Schwab's incredibly articulated characters and enchanting plotline made this a well needed 5-star read for me. Filled with yearning, toxicity, rage, and obsession, I simply couldn't put this down.
Told from 3 perspectives, this masterpiece is about sapphic vampires and their lives intertwining with one another. Maria, from renaissance era Spain is arranged to marry into royalty against her will. Charlotte, from the 1800's London, finds herself swept into the aristocratic scene following a forbidden romance. Alice, living in Boston in 2019, explores her new life as a college student, and as a supernatural creature of the dark following an out-of-character night.
As Bury Our Bones spans from the 1500s to modern day, it gave me a bit of historical fiction which I LOVED. The romance and fantasy aspects of this book were SO well done and did not feel forcibly interjected to grab reader's attention (which I'll admit I was worried about) and made this a unique tale I'II always remember. This book is one meant to be savored and enjoyed slowly, but that didn't stop me from finishing a few hundred pages each sitting.
The way vampires are showcased in this book was one of my favorite depictions: toxic, ravenous, and violent creatures. It drove the plot of this book, leading it down dark pathways and enabling women's anger and urges to return to power in a society that stole it away from them for centuries. This story is about love, about rage, and about revenge in the best possible way. This was my first V.E. Schwab, and I can't wait to get my hands on another.
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