I always knew V. E. Schwab would one day write the book of my heart. And now that moment has finally arrived: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is that book, at last!
A dark, magnetic, provocative novel… intense enough to pull you in by the gut and refuse to let go.
As a longtime Schwab reader, I can confidently say this is—at least for me—her most complex, ambitious, and mature work to date. Not just because of the beauty of her prose, always elegant and languid like a melancholy ballad, but also (and above all) because of the emotional and moral depth woven into every theme, and the level of introspection that permeates each chapter.
The Story
This is a story about hunger—an insatiable hunger.
1533, Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up cunning and free, her beauty eclipsed only by her longing to escape. But María knows men will always see her as a prize or a pawn. When a mysterious widow offers her an unexpected way out, María makes a desperate choice: she will live a life without regret.
This is a story about love—love that transforms and destroys everything it touches.
1827, London.
A sheltered young woman lives quietly on her family estate… until one stolen moment with the wrong person forces her to move to London, where she’s expected to become the perfect wife. Sensitive, dreamy Charlotte finds her world upended by the arrival of a stunning red-haired woman; yet the price of freedom turns out to be higher than she ever imagined.
This is a story about anger—deep, feral anger—and a grief that refuses to die.
2019, Boston.
College was supposed to be Alice’s chance to start over, to reinvent herself. That’s why she moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life in Ireland behind. But one uncanny night forces her to confront past, present, and future all at once. Determined to uncover the truth, Alice sets off on a journey for answers… but also (perhaps above all) for vengeance.
This is a story about life itself: how everything ends, and how everything eventually begins again.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Review
Three wild roses, hiding razor-sharp white teeth…
This isn’t the first time V. E. Schwab has written about vampires and sapphic love. If you watched the (unfortunately short-lived) Netflix series First Kill, you might already know it was inspired by one of her short stories, published in the anthology Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite.
This new novel, however—longer, deeper, and aimed at a more adult audience—rests on the incredible strength of three unforgettable narrative voices. Each one carries a powerful, distinct identity, rich not only in force but in vulnerability.
It’s rare to find multi-POV stories where every character truly leaves a mark. And yet, here, Victoria succeeds beautifully. The differences aren’t just stylistic; they are differences in worldview, in the way each woman listens to the world—and, of course, in the subtle echoes and mirrored themes that highlight both their contrasts and their undeniable connections.
What struck me most is how easy it is to find some small piece of yourself in each of these characters.
There’s Alice, with her aching urban melancholy and invisible wounds.
There’s Charlotte, delicate and sensitive, tinged with a hint of hedonism.
And then there is her… Sabine: larger-than-life, audacious, electric, seductive as sin. Her hunger is visceral, her thirst for life boundless, her centuries-old heart desperate for a kind of love willing to brush against worship.
An Unstoppable Hunger
These three captivating protagonists intertwine in a gothic narrative that echoes Interview with the Vampire, Carmilla, and Let the Right One In.
And yet Schwab’s restless, unmistakable voice pulses through every page. In truth, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil most strongly recalls the cosmopolitan atmosphere and claustrophobic tension of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
But in this new novel, Schwab is doing something different:
through the metaphor of the “toxic-vampire-girlfriend”—eternally hungry, chasing an ideal of femininity that defies every male gaze norm—she opens a window into the experience of discovery, desire, and self-affirmation lived by so many sapphic women.
In many ways, she dedicates Alice, Charlotte, and Sabine’s gothic odyssey to herself… but also to every queer woman who has ever felt “too much,” out of place, wrong—like wanting too fiercely, feeling too deeply, or desiring beyond the lines drawn by society was some kind of monstrous crime.
Saints, witches… or vampires
Yes, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil has a slow pace (though the ending delivers a twist that will leave you breathless!).
But it’s the kind of slow that breathes across eras, entwines lifetimes, and builds atmosphere with deliberate care.
Schwab’s signature prose is yet another reason the novel lingers long after you finish it. It’s lyrical, sensual, magnetic—each paragraph melts on your tongue like warm dark chocolate, bittersweet and decadent all at once.
And yet her delicate sensitivity coexists with brutal, emotionally charged moments that strike with the suddenness of a shadow slicing through light.
Which makes the novel perfect not only for lovers of romantic gothic fiction, but also for readers drawn to horror, dark fantasy, and sharp, unsettling twists.
What to read after Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil?
- Lucy Undying: Hunting Dracula by Kiersten White
- As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel
- A Lesson in Vengeance by S. T. Gibson
- A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
- The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan
- Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
- Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen
- House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
