Published: June 2025
Pages: 560
Series: Standalone
Summary
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.
My thoughts
This book is an experience. It is the best way I can sum up this story. It’s a journey into the depths of human emotion, history, and the desire to take control of your life and seek a different path than the one that has been set. There were so many scenes where I felt a hammer come down on me, my heart hurt and the words resonated through me. This book had me gripped with an emotional intensity. It is similar to how I felt when I first read Addie LaRue. I felt a little bit hollow at the end after so much heartache.
“Those grown in the midnight soil are never alone.”
The writing is exquisite, Schwab’s style is one my favourite’s, it’s lyrical, evocative, and so incredibly relatable to being human. No over the top unnecessary metaphors, just simple language that cuts to the bone. The characters of this story are so varied with incredible depth. Although many characters are fleeting, their impact spans through the decades. Reading this from the beginning, each scene is a small ripple that builds and builds into large waves. It’s not just the characters that influence the story but the way they shape each other. Time can heal but time can also ware away the pieces that made a person human. Too much time can make a person forget who they were before. How to show kindness and empathy. Forget the consequences of their actions.
Twenty-four hours to a day
These are mortal measurements, for mortal lives.
But when you live forever, time is something far less constant.
When you are happy, a decade rushes by.
When you are sad, a minute crawls.
When you are lonely and afraid, time seems to lose all meaning.
I love the time spent exploring the impacts of time. It’s touched on throughout this story that immortality just means dying slowly.. It sounds odd but after finishing this story I completely get it. With a story that spans many characters over centuries it can be very easy to feel a lack of connection, but that was not a problem for me with this book. We get depth, we get exploration of behaviour, societal expectations, self expression and relationship building. there is so much to talk and think about. I found myself thinking profoundly of what would I do, how would I think, who would I be if the situation was different.
“Where others rot without, we rot within“
I also got incredibly sad throughout this book. I am quite an empathetic person and seeing certain events play out and learning what we do I was distraught. Even now reading this review my heart hurts!
But I also spent a lot of time thinking about the domino effect and where did it start in this book? Which was the choice that saw the events played out the way they did. Was it one choice or an accumulation of decisions? And just watching how these decision shaped the characters and made them who they are today. Their humanity slowly slips away and you don’t notice because its so incremental shaped by time.
“Some people keep their heart tucked so deep, they hardly know it’s there. But you have always worn it like a second skin.”
It is such a fantastic blend of historical fiction with deeply personal storytelling. It reminded me of The Dowry of Blood quite a bit actually, now that I think on it, and I really loved that book also. The way the past intertwines with the present, revealing secrets and consequences that echo through time, it has been written brilliantly but I didn’t expect anything differently coming from Schwab.
“We grow together in this garden.”
Would I recommend?
Yes! I was completely invested in the characters’ fates, their stories and feeling their joys, their sorrows, and the witnessing the heavy weight of time. Fantastic writing, Schwab compares this book to Addie and although I much prefer Addie (that book holds a certain space in my heart) this is a wonderful addition and I am so glad I picked it up. I may have also pre-ordered the Illumicrate special edition.. no regrets.