Having just read the book jacket synopsis and not outside reviews, I had no idea that this book was about angry, hungry, rotting lesbian vampires. Imagine my surprise!
Schwab has woven together the stories of three women, and how they embrace their vampirism (or not) over the centuries. This dark fantasy features themes like: fighting to gain female agency, how immortality extracts a price, and the manifestation of deep hunger.
This is definitely not going to be one of those book club meetings where you struggle to discuss the book. There’s a lot to unpack here. And I’ll help you get started with these book club questions for Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. It includes a synopsis, 10 discussion prompts and some selected reviews (spoiler: not everyone loved it).
Below that, you find some suggestions for what to read next.
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Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil Synopsis
(We always chose to provide the publisher synopsis because we feel that it’s worthwhile to discuss whether the official book description actually squared with your experience of the book.)
Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil, V.E. Schwab
This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.
This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.
This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.
This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.
10 Book Club Questions for Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
These questions have been tailored to this book’s specific reading experience, but if you want more ideas, we also have an article with 101 generic book club questions.
- “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.”
This is not only the epitaph, but is often repeated throughout the book. Discuss the meaning of the phrase and how it applies to each of the three main characters. - For Maria/Sabine, maternity is supposed to be her purpose…and yet she wants none of it. “And while she cannot stop her husband from coming to her bed, it is one thing to be stormed, and another to be conquered—the difference between a brief invasion and a long-term siege.”
This comes up yet again in Charlotte’s timeline. How are the modern women like Alice faring in this regard? - Every fantasy book featuring magic or paranormal beings has to create its own set of rules as to how the magic works. Discuss how the rules of the vampirism work in this novel? And how did those rules compare to other cultural works that you’ve read/seen featuring vampires?
- The pacing of the character arcs aren’t equally shared between the three stories. Rather, it builds drama, with Alice’s story more weighted to the back end of the book. How did that pacing work for you?
- Some characters in the book have what we would recognize as “real jobs”. And yet, while Sabine, Lottie, Hector and others seem to have the ability to claim land and homes, it’s unclear how they were managing the business of daily living (clothing, transportation etc). How were they acquiring the means for that?
- “The hunger lives inside us all. To some it is an empty bucket. To others, a yawning pit. And yet, no matter how shallow or how deep it feels, here is a truth that will either drive you mad, or bring you peace.’ He sits forward. ‘There is no filling it. You will never be sated. It does not matter whether you drink a carafe or drain a city. The hunger will not ease.”
Discuss the theme of hunger and how it affected the actions of your favorite (or least favorite) character. - Sabine to Charlotte “People die, every hour of every day. The vast majority will do so through accident or sickness, age or folly. And yes, a handful at our hands”. Sabine rationalizes this as a sort of vampire code, but isn’t she really just rationalizing her psychopathy?
- We are set up to hate Sabine, or at least to disapprove of her greedy, jealous nature. But in the end, Lottie lied to Alice about being able able to be “cured”, tricking her into killing Sabine. So, which of them was worse? Or were they equally evil?
- Schwab’s Shades of Magic series has vampire characters. And The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue features a character who does a deal with the devil and lives an unnaturally long life. Is this book a mash-up of those two ideas? Or is it something else entirely?
- “Death is a kind of freedom, after all.” Is it?
Selected Reviews for Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
(Use these selected Goodreads reviews to compare with your own experience of the book. Do you agree or disagree with the reviews?)
“Schwab does not shy away from the symbolic love of vampires, with each of the three women we follow having one very distinct “problem”: they want too much for the world. They burn and they want. Queerness is at the heart of the story, as is a desire for control in a male-dominated world. Whether that be from having to marry in order to have status or wanting to stand up and protect oneself from the potential violence.”
“There are books that bruise. Books that don’t love you back, but haunt you anyway. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is one of them. This book was beautiful in premise, bleeding with potential, drowning in shadowy metaphors and blood-soaked longing… but in execution, it teetered between gothic brilliance and indulgent decay. They promised me roses and rot, and I did get both — just not quite in the bloody bouquet I wanted.”
“Her prose is rhythmic and deliberate. For some, it will read as purple. For me, it read as lyrical and poetic even though it sometimes teetered into too flowery. I embraced it anyway.”
“This isn’t about romance—it’s about obsession, longing, loss, and the things we do to hold onto what we shouldn’t. the story moves with the weight of inevitability, like watching a car crash in slow motion. you can know and feel the tragedy of these characters but you just keep going. there’s something deliciously eerie about the way it unfolds, like the characters are trapped in their own fate, and we’re just watching it happen. It’s unsettling, it’s beautiful, and it’s completely unforgettable.”
What to Read Next
If your book club wants to keep going with Schwab, I also have a discussion guide for Addie LaRue.
Matrix, Lauren Groff
No vampires here. But there are some pretty pissed off lesbian nuns in this story which is set during the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Marie de France is cast out by Eleanor and sent to run a failing convent. Initially bereft, she channels her anger into a devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions, bringing the convent to prosperity.
Here’s a discussion guide for Matrix.
Weyward, Emilia Hart
Three women, three centuries, and witchcraft.
Weyward by Emilia Hart spans three centuries—1620, 1942, and 2019—tracing the lives of Altha, Violet, and Kate, all bound by blood and a legacy of witchcraft. Each woman struggles against the constraints of her time: Altha faces a witch trial, Violet seeks freedom from societal repression, and Kate escapes an abusive relationship. The books themes include the enduring strength of female agency and the power women reclaim when they connect with their true selves and with nature.
Here’s our discussion guide for Weyward.
The Crimson Road, A.G. Slatter
For more vampires and dark fantasy…
The Crimson Road follows Violet Zennor, a ruthless fighter raised in underground arenas, who learns upon her father’s death that she is bound by his final will to journey into the dreaded Darklands. It’s a place full of the fearsome vampiric Leech Lords. When assassins attempt to kill her, Violet isn’t having it and she decides to confront these ancient vampires to reclaim her freedom.
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