Freedom in V.E. Schwab's sapphic vampire novel

I’ll admit it. Sometimes I choose a book based on its title. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is one of those choices. I don’t believe in judging a book (or anything) by its cover. I grabbed this novel because I enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I knew nothing about its content, but the title was compelling. Why not? I took it home and started it a few nights ago, remembering that Schwab writes great sentences. Maybe this book would have the right rhythm for drifting off.

I was wrong. Very wrong. As the narrative jumped across time and from one character to another, I found myself waking up. I read almost half the book the first night. I would have finished it in two if we hadn’t had some friends’ children for a sleepover. I inhaled the rest of the story the night before last, wondering where it would go. The first big event in the book is one that made me pause and think, “That was an unusual choice.” I didn’t see it coming. Surprises, especially when they feel authentic to the narrative, are something I deeply enjoy.

But what is this book about? Okay. Good question. It’s a sapphic vampire saga that explores cultural expectations on women in Europe and the U.S. It is also a book about grief, love, and identity. And it’s beautifully written. To the point I was really confused why it hadn’t made my list based on my LGBTQIA+ reading preferences. And even more stumped when my wife had never heard of it. When I don’t know a queer title, she does, and vice versa.

I loved this. It was a compelling, fresh take on vampires from beginning to end. It had just enough surprises to keep me interested, most of which were revealed via character development. At one point, I asked myself how María could behave the way she did, and then I recognized that her characteristics were consistent with what I knew about her from before her crisis. She hadn’t changed; she’d grown.

I wonder how I would grow if I became a vampire? I don’t think it is any kind of spoiler to let you know that’s what happens to María. You should read this book because of her change. Not to mention the other characters who are interesting and grow on the page.

We all have potential. In this book, a woman finds her confidence through the knowledge that a man can no longer do harm to her. She is able to walk freely at night. Travel. Remain unmarried. Pursue the women her heart desires. She is not chained to expectation, and that heady freedom is something most of us do not experience.

What would happen to me if I wasn’t afraid of men? Because I am afraid. It is one thing to feel my personal power in my home with my partner. It is another to try to gain well-paying employment after more than a decade as a stay-at-home mom and while still tied to the man whose children I made. I don’t get to be free. Not until they have passed 18, at which point I can never speak to him again because we won’t be required to share information with one another, a requirement I meet when it comes to “co-parenting.” What if I could walk away from all of that today, but still be tied to my children? And why does it take death in a book for a woman to experience it believably?

I’m sharing these ruminations because I’d like you to write your own. What is freedom to you? How can it be achieved? Go ahead and write that story. Create a new future or past. Tell us how to be wholly ourselves by showing how you could be wholly yourself. By revealing what a fully embodied, empowered you looks, acts and feels like.

And after, check in with yourself. Sometimes imagining the restrictions gone can make them feel all the tighter when the imagining is through. But sometimes, you discover ways to claim those freedoms bit by bit.

In this series, Shawna Ayoub moves “beyond a book review” in not only recommending great books by diverse writers but highlighting a theme or technique to apply to your own writing practice. If this month’s title sounds intriguing to you, consider ordering your own copy of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil at Bookshop.org in support of independent bookstores across the U.S.

Shawna Ayoub is an essayist, fiction writer, poet, and instructor with an MFA in Creative Writing from Indiana University. Some of her work has been published in The Manifest-Station, Role Reboot, [wherever], The Huffington Post, The Oxford Review and Exit 7. Her writing explores the intersections of race, place and survivorship. She writes with honesty about her own experience in order to transform pain. Shawna is available for writing mentorship during the next six-week course session beginning July 21.

Shawna also hosts biweekly silent write-ins, a collaboration between the Center for Creative Writing and Survive Your Story. You need to register (free) to join, but you can drop in or out at any point to write or work in quiet community. A prompt will be offered. Survive Your Story paid subscribers have the option of submitting prompt-based writing for feedback to Shawna within one week of each session. Our write-ins are a judgment-free zone. Here’s how to join:

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