Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil
V E Schwab
Pan Macmillan
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I was so honoured this month to be invited by Book Break (Pan Macmillan) to participate in a week long readalong of Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V E Schwab! I had so much fun in the group chat with a bunch of other lovely readers, checking in every day, discussing our thoughts and going absolutely feral for this book! We ended the week with a Q&A with V herself, and I still can't believe that happened! Below is my spoiler free review. While the ARC copy was generously gifted by Pan Macmillan, my thoughts are my own 🖤
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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.🥀
I sat with this book for hours before sitting down to write my review, and I still don't feel ready. This book wrapped a tight fist around my heart and wouldn't let go the whole way through, I still feel the lingering grip of it now.
It's no surprise that a V E Schwab book has knocked it out of the park for me, I knew going in that I would love it, I just wasn't prepared for how much.
A story of life and death - empowerment and freedom juxtaposed with cages and fear.
Schwab's writing is visceral, evocative, and enveloping. I feel like I have walked through these pages with these women, felt their pain and their elation, and journeyed through the changing centuries with them.
This is a book I will be returning to as often as my fragile heart will allow me 🖤
𝘽𝙪𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝘽𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙎𝙤𝙞𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙅𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙝 🥀
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I was lucky enough to be able to ask V a question on the writing process in our Q&A! The transcript of that is below -
A - 'I have a writing process question if that's okay? 🙏🏼 The way you describe scenes, feelings and characters is so beautifully evocative. Is this present in the first draft, or something you build upon with revisions?'
V - 'I spend a lot of time, figuring out the voice for each character, and voice isn’t just how the language works. It’s also what matters in terms of senses to that character. It grows richer each draft. More layered. But I write the three women’s stories each chronologically to hold onto their voice as long as possible. So I essentially wrote 3 novellas.'
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Thank you so much Book Break / Pan Macmillan for the absolute honour of reading this book early, and for introducing me to new feral friends 🫶🏼