V. E. Schwab - Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil’

‘Bury my bones in the midnight soil, 

plant them shallow and water them deep, 

and in my place will grow a feral rose,

soft red petals hiding sharp white teeth.’

‘Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil’ by Victoria ‘V.E.’ Schwab, is no doubt one of the most anticipated literary releases this year, and with good reason. Her masterful writing will take you on a journey through time and across the globe, in a story about hunger, love and rage…

This is a story of three women. María (died: 1532). Charlotte (died: 1827). Alice (died: 2019). One hungers for freedom and makes a desperate choice, vowing to have no regrets, and to never be a pawn or a prize in the games played by men in power. One longs for love, but it begins to feel like even more of an impossible dream when she is sent to London to be stripped of her individuality to become a ‘good’ wife. One longs for a fresh start, but when a chance encounter seemingly rips this chance away, she dedicates herself to a hunt for revenge. Three stories, three women, three intertwined fates in a story about lives that end… and begin again.

As you may be able to tell from the over-excited introduction to this review, I have followed Victoria Schwab’s work for a few years now. One of my favourite aspects of her writing is her ability to create characters that feel real. In ‘Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil’, morally grey characters take centre stage, with each of the three protagonists - María, Charlotte and Alice - manipulating the spotlight to varying degrees as unreliable narrators. Their stories intertwine, so while at the start they may feel quite separated, as the novel progresses, the connections become increasingly obvious. This is what makes this format work - going into reading this book, I was concerned over the three stories feeling disjointed, but they flow seamlessly, capturing the reader’s undivided attention. 

In addition to well-crafted protagonists, side characters, no matter how small their role, feel as real as you and I - it’s easy to believe they exist for more than to serve this story, and their appearance here is only a window into their existence. This again feels like a trademark of Victoria Schwab’s writing at this point.

Another aspect I greatly enjoyed was how the vampire lore was re-invented for this book. We have the classic tropes like weakness in the sun, but there are others, more unique ones, which I won’t spoil so that you an discover them together with our protagonists. Additionally, the word ‘vampire’ is used very sparingly, with others, such as ‘rose’, ‘planted in the midnight soil’ taking its place. World-building touches like these make this otherwise fairly grounded in reality story feel fresh, which is a difficult feat to achieve with vampire lore - it can feel quite overdone due to the sheer number of trope-y stories out there. 

Finally, as alluded to before, the set-up with three interwoven stories does not impact the pacing negatively. The story builds slowly, as our protagonists grow, gain new experiences and explore their new selves. However, rushing this would be a disservice to the novel as a whole, and despite this, it remains engaging throughout. Additionally, this allows the reader to pay attention to the small details, as every verse in this story has a purpose. 

‘Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil’ is poetically dark. It will leave you speechless more than once, so go on - sink your teeth into this tale of three women and their hunger, love and rage. 

Final rating: 5/5

P.S. As a side note, hearing Victoria Schwab talk about this book during her tour was an amazing experience - hearing about the inspiration and the writing process had made reading this fantastic novel an even richer experience!