Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a 2025 LGBTQ dark fantasy novel by American author V. E. Schwab. It was published by Tor Books on June 10, 2025.^[1] The novel intertwines the storylines of three lesbian vampires from different countries and periods. It won a Goodreads Choice Award in the Readers' Favorite Fantasy category.^[2] The unabridged audiobook is narrated by Marisa Calin, Katie Leung, and Julia Whelan.

V. E. Schwab has stated that she considers Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil to be her most autobiographical book. She was inspired by classic vampire lore, including Carmilla and Anne Rice's work. She considers classic vampires to be inherently queer and has a lifelong love of vampires. The novel takes place in the same universe as one of her previous novels, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. She has stated the three storylines represent the three eras of her own coming out journey.^[3] She wrote the three storylines in their entirety before linking them together.^[4]

In 1532, María, a peasant from Santo Domingo de la Calzada, marries a wealthy viscount in an attempt to gain control over her life, but after finding herself stifled by her domineering husband and desperate to avoid pregnancy, she escapes with the help of a herbalist widow who turns her into a vampire.

In 1827, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with her aunt in London and find a husband after she's found trying to kiss her best friend Jocelyn. There, she also encounters another widow, who also turns her into a vampire as the two enter into a relationship.

In 2019, Alice has recently left her small town in Scotland to study at Harvard and to escape from the shadow of her more outgoing sister, Catty. After waking up after a one-night stand having turned into a vampire, she searches Boston for her hook-up, who was the last person she remembers seeing before her transformation.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil received positive reviews upon its release. It was praised for its compelling plot, its prose, and its feminist themes, but Alice's storyline was criticized as being less interesting than the other two.

In her review for the British Fantasy Society, Melody Bowles praised the novel's "compelling plot" and its ability to jump between settings and characters, but criticized it for its bleakness and its ending.^[5] Everdeen Mason also called the novel "compelling" in her review for the New York Times. She called the novel an "apt story for our current culture", drawing parallels between the novel's themes of expectations and constraints placed on women with the rollback of women's rights in the 2020s.^[6] However, she criticized Alice's storyline for being less enticing than the other two. Greer Macallister for the Chicago Review of Books also felt that Alice's storyline was the least appealing of the three, but recommended it to those who enjoyed Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue for its "inventiveness, complexity, era-spanning scope, historical detail, and gorgeous writing".^[7]

In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the novel a "beautiful meditation on queer identity", and praised it for its subtle portrayal of grief and loneliness.^[8]

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called the novel a "haunting and worthwhile story", and praised it for the three leads' intricate backstories and Schwab's ability to balance their humanity and monstrosity.^[9]

In his review for SFF Insiders, Noah Isaacs recommended it for people who "like vampires and being emotionally devastated", and praised the novel's prose and atmosphere.^[10]

The novel won a Goodreads Choice Award in the Reader's Favorite Fantasy category^[2] and a Libby Book Award for Best Fantasy.^[11] It was also nominated for an Audie Award for Fantasy.^[12]

Upon its release, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil topped the USA Today Bestseller List and The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller List.^[13][14]