Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

By V.E. Schwab

Book Overview

ALL first edition copies will be signed by the author Signed copies available while supplies last.

#1 New York Times bestseller - #1 USA Today bestseller - #1 National Indie bestseller - #1 IndieNext List, June 2025 - 2025 Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Fantasy

A 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 Mar a 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, Mar a 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." --The 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

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250320526
• ISBN13: 9781250320520
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

I wanted more Addie LaRue, less anger about being undead

I have been a big fan of VE Schwab since I read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and I'm always down for a vampire book. I hesitate to say it is about vampires because I went into this book blind and felt it was a good twist when it was revealed. By no means was this some end-of-the-book plot twist; it was early on, but it still gave me a bit of joy. I did feel the hollowness of being a vampire in this book, but for a book about female vampires, I would recommend Lucy Undying over this one. Is that allowed in a book review? Anyway, read them both and you decide which one you like better.

Couldn’t put this book down!

I stayed up far too late reading this book! The writing is so beautiful and atmospheric! You’re taken along on a journey that spans several hundred years with three female vampires that you will never forget. My favorite of 2025!

Love in the dark

My feelings for this book are complicated. I liked the first section with Sabine and her story of how she chose freedom and blood instead of being saddled with a husband that only wanted her for her beautiful fiery hair and ability to bear children. I guess it makes it more tragic then as she journeys the world by herself, until she meets Charlotte. Unfortunately being a vampire does not have a happy ending as the years hollow them out till nothing is left but hunger and rage. I thought that was pretty good. Too often vampires are toted as beautiful and that immortality is the best. Instead they have a best by date and if you are decent or have friends, these vampires can end without destroying everything around them. Understanding this though did not change that I absolutely hated Sabine (several decades after turning Charlotte) and Charlotte or Lottie had my love for the rest of the book for being such a decent soul with a moral compass that Sabine lacks. I enjoyed Lottie's story so much with her loves and friends and it had me very intrigued to see how Alice was going to fit in with her modern experience as a vampire and why she had been turned. This is a dark story, full of feelings (hate being a strong one, but also love) and I did like the little poem that seemed to be famous among vampires about being buried in the midnight soil and becoming roses with sharp thorns and teeth. Do not expect a happy ending though. There are no happy endings with vampires (as is proper), just hanging on to humanity and kindness until your end comes as it does for everyone.