Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From V. E. Schwab, the No. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying, unforgettable novel to sink your teeth into.
Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532.
London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.
Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.
One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.
And all of them grow teeth.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
What happens when girls grow sharp teeth and learn how to bite? When a girl for whom life has been curtailed by society’s expectations suddenly discovers she could, if she chooses, live forever? V.E. Schwab’s novel is a lush, fantastical look at three different young women in three different time periods. What happened, the story asks, that made them choose a path that others might find horrific?
Schwab has many fans from her previous fantasy novels, notably The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue which spent 37 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list in 2021. Although the tone of Bury Our Bones is wilder, darker and sexier, there are similar themes of loss and of the frustration at being ignored and pushed aside.
In this novel, the narrative is split between the three heroines: Maria in 16th-century Spain, Charlotte in Victorian London and Alice in 21st-century Boston. Each is distinctly drawn, and each is enraptured by a stranger and the offer she makes.
Gorgeously written, the book makes it hard to not feel exhilarated by the rising force of female power and the creeping undercurrent of toxicity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue) unfolds an epic and emotionally resonant tale about three lesbian vampires connected through the centuries. In 16th-century Spain, wild Maria avoids pregnancy and eventually escapes her lonely marriage with the help of a mysterious herbalist widow, but poorly rewards the woman's offer of the gift of eternal life by killing her and taking on her name, Sabine. After centuries of wandering, only rarely finding others of her own kind, Sabine hunts and then turns Charlotte in 19th-century London—but Charlotte flees when their loving connection sours under mercurial Sabine's jealousy. In 21st-century Boston, Scottish Harvard student Alice seeks novelty and reminisces about her sister, but after a postparty hookup with Lottie leaves her as a vampire, she is determined to find Lottie again and get some answers. Schwab crafts intricate backstories for her leads, beautifully balancing the humanity and monstrosity of all three women while chronicling their transformations over time. The result is a haunting and worthwhile story about cruelty, grace, love, and what it means to live forever.
