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Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

An instant Sunday Times bestseller and a twisting tale of love, rage and retribution.

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Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

By: V. E. Schwab
Narrated by: Marisa Calin, Katie Leung, Julia Whelan
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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

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

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

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

'A dark, irresistible saga that asks what it means to be human to live, to love and above all, to hunger'
– Peng Shepherd





V. E. Schwab's Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 16/06/2025

Best of 2025 Dark Fantasy Editors Select Fantasy Gothic Historical Horror LGBTQIA+ Creators Literature & Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Women's Voices Heartfelt
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Editorial Review

What grows when you bury the bones
Some listens just leave you quiet, with nothing but the sound of your heartbeat filling the space. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil did exactly that. It’s beautiful and painful and so full of longing: for freedom, for love, for a life that feels like your own. Told across three timelines, the story is layered and intimate, with characters whose lives twist around each other in ways that are heartbreaking, brilliant, and just a little toxic (okay, okay, a lot toxic). Self-care looked like not hitting pause—because when I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Julia Whelan, Katie Leung, and Marisa Calin bring it all to life with performances that flow together as seamlessly as the stories of María, Charlotte, and Alice. I finished it and just kept thinking: WOW, this is truly something special. —Patty R., Audible Editor

Critic reviews

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)
All stars
Most relevant
I found myself routing for each of these girls throughout the book at different times of the story. But as the story came together that changed, along with the characters. Surprisingly, the most gut wrenching quote came from Jocelyn in the way of “did you find someone brave enough to love you?” . A close second was Lottie in the roof top 😭💔

Each of them were sad, tragic, hopeful, deserving of more than what life had dealt them. In their deaths, Victoria dealt them a whole other bag of issues.

What a riveting story. As always, Victoria has the most beautiful way with words and her sentences are so beautiful and descriptive.

Another masterpiece from V. E. Schwab I

Powerful storybook

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I really liked the writing style and the imagery in the books however the plot I found at times dragged. I loved alice pov and Maria wasn't a massive fan of lotties and I'm glad their wasn't as much pov from her.

the narrator for Alice I could listen to all day

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i saw someone compared this to lesbian interview with the vampire and while it’s completely different it does have that compelling toxic divas vibe which i ate up
honestly a slay
and the narration was top notch (lottie in alice’s POV being the voice of caitlyn from arcane was just the cherry on top. katie knew what she was doing making their accents exactly the same)

toxic lesbian vampires

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They way that this book draws you into each character and the world that’s not too long gone. The struggles that society poses on us seen throughout the book, but in a memorising way. Loved this book, written so well and an unexpected ending.

Memorising

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Absolutely loved it, from beginning to end. I was actually sad to come to the end, I really cared about the characters.
If you enjoy an interwoven story about vampires, but also more importantly than what they are, who they are and were, then buy this audio book.

Loved It.

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