Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
Published by Tor Books
Publication date: June 10, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Historical 
Bookshop
The sprawling Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil spans three centuries and in doing so introduces and follows three young women, each completely different, but ultimately bound to each other whether they want to be or not.
Maria is a young woman in Spain in the 16th century about to be married off to a man she knows nothing about. She hopes marriage will bring her a life of greater freedom but that’s not what she gets. Almost 300 years later, a young woman named Charlotte living in London is being forced into the society world when all she wants is a quiet life in the country. Until she meets and befriends a charismatic woman named Sabine and they fall into a headlong and passionate relationship. In 2019 Alice has left her home in Scotland to attend Harvard and hopefully become the confident and open woman she wants to be rather than the shy girl afraid of exploring her sexuality. At a party one night she meets a vivacious young woman named Lottie and they spend the night together. It shifts the course of Alice‘s life in an unwelcome, unasked for way, but now Lottie has completely disappeared and Alice doesn’t know anyone who can help her.
Schwab casts a net over the reader in this novel of the supernatural and of female sexuality, power dynamics, and how they are shaped for each generation. At its core Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are all desperately searching for freedom both within themselves and for themselves in the world they live in.
Calling it a delight may sound strange, given how dark the story is, but I was captivated by every decadent, bloody, wicked page of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. There’s macabre fun and fascination to these women’s lives and the ending is perfect, all the pieces fitting neatly together yet also leaving a sliver of space that could mean a sequel.
Looking for more V.E. Schwab? Try The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue my favorite of her books.
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org where your purchases support local bookstores. I will earn a commission (at no cost to you) if you click through and make a purchase.
Leave a Reply