Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
by V.E. Schwab
Fantasy
Historical Fantasy
Dark Fantasy
535 Pages
"Schwab has crafted something extraordinary—a dark, lush exploration of immortality that spans centuries and asks what we'd sacrifice for freedom, for love, for survival itself."
Synopsis
From V.E. Schwab, the number one New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, comes a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger. In 1532 Santo Domingo de la Calzada, María—a young girl whose beauty is matched only by her fierce dreams of escape—knows she can only ever be a prize or pawn in men's games. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice, vowing to have no regrets. In 1827 London, Charlotte lives a cloistered life on her family's estate until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her exiled to the city. Her tender heart and impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow, but freedom carries a price higher than she imagined. In 2019 Boston, college was supposed to be Alice's fresh start. After moving halfway across the world to leave her old life behind, an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning everything. Alice throws herself into hunting for answers and revenge. This is a story about hunger, love, and rage—about how life ends and how it starts, spanning five centuries of women making impossible choices and living with their consequences.
Our Take
V.E. Schwab proves once again why she's one of fantasy's most daring voices with this ambitious, genre-blending exploration of immortality's costs. Where The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue examined memory and legacy, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil delves into hunger—literal and metaphorical—and the ways women across centuries navigate systems designed to constrain them. Schwab's gift for creating atmospheric, emotionally resonant worlds shines as she moves seamlessly between 16th-century Spain, Victorian London, and contemporary Boston, weaving three narratives that gradually reveal their connections. The novel asks provocative questions about agency, desire, and what we're willing to become to survive. María, Charlotte, and Alice are distinct yet connected by their refusal to accept the limited roles assigned to them, and Schwab never shies from the darkness inherent in their choices. This is lusher and more overtly Gothic than Schwab's Shades of Magic series, with echoes of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles and Sarah Waters's historical atmospherics. Readers who loved Alix E. Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January or Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic will be captivated by Schwab's darkly romantic vision. For fans seeking fantasy that challenges genre conventions while delivering emotional depth and gorgeous prose, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is essential reading.
