Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

An instant No. 1 Sunday Times & New York Times Bestseller, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a twisting tale of power, immortality and the terrifying price of freedom from V. E. Schwab.

Three women share one desire: to break the rules men use to bind them.

1532. León, Spain: María, wild and wily, knows beauty is her only currency. So when an alluring stranger offers her a dark alternative path, María makes a desperate choice.

1827. London: Charlotte lives a cloistered life, her heart full of impossible wants. Swept away by a beautiful widow's invitation, Charlotte discovers she can buy her freedom – if she sells her soul.

2019. Boston: Alice moved across the world to escape her past. But a one-night stand gives her a thirst for answers . . . and retribution.

Defying time and all odds, these women’s fates become tangled like roots. This is a story about life: how it ends, and how it starts again.


'A rich, lush labyrinth of a book . . . It had me by the throat from the first page'
– Emma Stonex

'Nobody can write like V. E. Schwab'
– Jodi Picoult

'I absolutely devoured it . . . It's utterly absorbing, atmospheric and perfectly gothic'
– Bridget Collins

'Schwab has impressively woven a compelling character drama and feminist critique into a horror thriller . . . goes down as easy as that happy-hour cocktail'
– The New York Times

‘Spanning centuries, this entrancing queer love story follows three women . . . Lyrical and immersive’
– Cosmopolitan

VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the acclaimed Shades of Magic series, the Villains series, the Cassidy Blake series and the international bestseller The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Her work has received critical acclaim, translated into over two dozen languages, and optioned for television and film. First Kill – a YA vampire series based on Schwab’s short story of the same name – is currently in the works at Netflix with Emma Roberts’ Belletrist Productions producing. When she's not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is usually tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.

Schwab at her finest. She’s gifted us a dark, irresistible saga that asks what it means to be human – to live, to love and above all, to hunger -- Peng Shepherd, bestselling author of The Cartographers, on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Nobody can write like V. E. Schwab . . . an unmissable addition to your To Be Read pile -- Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister’s Keeper, on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

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, bestselling author of Uprooted, on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

A rich, lush labyrinth of a book . . . It had me by the throat from the first page -- Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters, on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Lush, gorgeous prose and a gripping new take on the vampire that pays homage to the greats while doing something deliciously new -- Lex Croucher, author of Gwen and Art Are Not In Love, on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Perfectly suspended between darkness and light . . . unforgettable -- Alix E. Harrow on The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Bloody, toothsome and entirely riveting. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a singular story that will stay with me for years to come -- Alexis Henderson author of House of Hunger and The Year of the Witching

Entrancing . . . Lyrical and immersive, it's ideal for losing yourself in summer thanks to its sweeping history, deep emotions and a touch of magic -- Cosmopolitan on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

[Schwab's] take on hidden desires, hunger and corruption puts it up there with the classics of the genre -- Daily Mail on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Gorgeously gothic . . . A romantic, lyrical read, perfect for immersing yourself in -- The Mirror on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

A fresh and addictively readable take -- The Guardian on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

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 -- The New York Times on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Some of the best feminist fiction doesn’t stop at promoting women’s rights, but allows us to revel, cathartically, in women’s wrongs. In Schwab’s capable hands, those wrongs feel oh so right -- Chicago Review of Books on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

V. E. Schwab is one of those rare talents who refuses to be confined to a single genre . . . This is a story that will leave you starving for just one more page -- Radio Times on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil