Chapter summaries Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil V. E. Schwab

Chapter I Summary & Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Notice: This summary and analysis contain full plot details for Chapter I of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. Read on only if you have finished the chapter or are comfortable with spoilers.

Summary

The chapter opens at a crowded college party in Boston in 2019. Alice Moore, a Scottish first‑year student, presses herself against a green‑painted wall in the Co‑op, the thudding bass feeling like a heartbeat. She clutches her phone and a foul‑smelling drink, doing her best to mirror the others who seem to be enjoying themselves. She was swept along by her new suitemates—Jana, Rachel, and Lizbeth—who have not yet become friends but are stuck together by newness. The four arrived as a loose pack, but the moment they crossed the threshold they scattered, leaving Alice stranded and isolated.

Lizbeth’s crisp English accent makes Alice’s own sound “wrinkled” to her ear; Rachel and Jana talk so fast that Alice barely parses their American English. When they met, Rachel squealed that Alice sounded like Outlander, and the same over‑the‑top fuss was made over Lizbeth’s clipped consonants. Alice finds it all exhausting. At the party she retreats into her phone, using the screen as a shield—it lets her frame the world into manageable pictures while rendering her invisible.

Through the camera she spots Hannah, Sam, and Elle, three girls from her floor. She tries to join them but remembers that Hannah had earlier tried to bond by discussing “the most fuckable guys” on their floor. Alice, who is gay but not yet out, had deflected awkwardly, and now the memory makes her legs refuse to move. A stranger bumps her elbow, spilling a few drops of her drink, and Alice uses it as an excuse to escape to the hall.

She considers simply walking back to Matthews Hall, her dorm, but the internal pressure to make a fresh start keeps her in place. She has been waiting for a transformative moment since leaving Scotland, but every “now” has passed without magic. A sense of panic rises. Recalling her sister Catty’s trick—reframing panic as excitement and pretending it is fun—Alice turns away from the front door and hunts for a bathroom.

Finding only a long queue, she slips into a dim bedroom with a purple‑lit lamp and enters the adjoining bathroom. In the stark white light she confronts her reflection. Alice sees a girl of eighteen, neither tall nor short, with ash‑blonde hair, a grown‑out fringe, and eyes that are an uncertain mix of blue, green, and grey. She feels perpetually unfinished, someone who shrinks and disappears. The makeup she applied earlier is now smudged; one eye is streaked like a bruise. Instead of fixing it, she deliberately smears the other eye, creating a dark stripe across her lids—a mask that makes her look fierce, someone else entirely.

Staring at this other Alice, she imagines a version of herself who takes up space and has no growing left to do. The bass still pulses through the walls, and a decision crystallizes. If Catty were there, she would turn it into a game, and Alice likes games because they have rules. So she invents one: when she steps out of the bathroom, she will turn right toward the party, not left toward the door. For one hour she will be “New Alice”—the girl in the mirror, leaning in instead of out, not apologising for breathing, and interpreting her pounding heart as proof of fun. At eleven o’clock she kisses the mirror, leaving a ghost of lip‑colour, flicks off the light, throws open the door… and finds a girl on the bed.

Key Events

Alice, a Scottish student, feels alienated at a loud Boston college party; her suitemates vanish into the crowd.
She uses her phone camera as a social shield, observing the room without engaging.
An attempt to connect with Hannah is thwarted by the memory of a strained conversation about attractive men, hinting at Alice’s concealed sexuality.
Fleeing to a bathroom, Alice confronts her reflection and her deep insecurity about her appearance and identity.
She deliberately smudges her makeup to create a mask that resembles a bolder alternate self.
Alice designs a “game” to become “New Alice” for one hour—no apologies, no shrinking—and seals the pact by kissing the mirror.
The chapter ends on a cliffhanger when she exits the bathroom and sees an unnamed girl sitting or lying on the bed.

Character Development

Alice Moore: The chapter immerses us in Alice’s inner world. She is self‑conscious, prone to social anxiety, and desperate for a fresh start that never quite materialises. Her Scottish identity makes her feel “wrinkled” next to polished American or English accents. She is gay but has not disclosed this, leading to awkwardness and a sense of hiding. The mirror scene externalises her wish to shed her old self; her decision to “play” New Alice shows both her courage and her reliance on fantasy and rigid rules to manage fear. The cliffhanger with the girl on the bed promises an immediate test of this invented persona.
Catty (Alice’s sister) appears only in memory but functions as Alice’s internalised coach, reframing panic as excitement and urging boldness. Their relationship underscores the distance Alice feels from her past.
Suitemates (Jana, Rachel, Lizbeth/Queenie): They represent the superficial social web of early university life—friendly but not yet true friends, quick to label and cheer but also quick to disperse.
Hannah: Her brief, failed bonding attempt highlights the heterosexual assumptions Alice navigates and the isolation that can come from not coming out.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Transformation and Identity: The entire chapter revolves around Alice’s longing to become someone else. The mirror serves as a literal threshold between “Old Alice” and “New Alice,” and the smeared makeup becomes a literal mask that enacts the desired change. Her game rules are a ritual of self‑reinvention.
The Phone as Shield: Alice repeatedly uses her phone screen to distance herself from the chaos, turning the party into a framed, controllable image. It renders her invisible, reflecting her desire to observe without being seen.
Social Anxiety and Belonging: The pounding bass that feels like a beast’s heart, the inability to cross the room, the instinct to apologise for every accidental touch—all convey the physical toll of anxiety and the gap between Alice and the carefree partygoers.
Now vs. Then: Alice has been waiting for the definitive moment when her life starts, yet the “nows” pile up without meaning. The chapter questions whether reinvention can ever truly be a single dramatic act or if it must be an ongoing, fragile performance.
Secrecy and Sexuality: The awkward encounter with Hannah subtly introduces Alice’s unspoken queerness as another layer of her hidden self, adding to the weight of the “Old Alice” she wishes to leave behind.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter I establishes Alice’s emotional and psychological landscape with visceral intimacy. By placing her at a party—a classic setting for identity performance—it dramatises the chasm between who she is and who she wants to be. The invention of the “game” transforms internal turmoil into a tangible boundary‑crossing, raising the stakes for every subsequent action. The cliffhanger—the mysterious girl on the bed—injects an immediate complication that will likely test New Alice’s resolve and may trigger the central plot of the novel. Structurally, the chapter closes the introductory phase and propels Alice (and the reader) into a charged unknown.

Study Questions and Answers

What does Alice’s use of her phone camera symbolise in this chapter? The phone acts as a shield that allows Alice to frame the world safely without participating. By reducing chaos to a small screen, she avoids eye contact and social demands. Her observation that “no one notices a phone” underscores her desire to be invisible. The camera also literalises her tendency to watch rather than live, reinforcing her detachment from the present.
How does the mirror scene illustrate Alice’s wish for transformation? In the bathroom, Alice deliberately smudges her makeup into a fierce, mask‑like stripe, seeing a version of herself that appears bold and unapologetic. She longs to “trade herself” with this reflection and then creates a game that allows her to inhabit that persona temporarily. The kiss on the mirror is a symbolic seal of intent, turning the glass into a portal between two versions of the same person.
Why does Alice invent rules for becoming “New Alice,” and what does this reveal about her character? Alice states that she likes games because they have rules, which makes boldness feel safer. The one‑hour time limit and the clear directives (no apologising, leaning in, re‑labeling panic as excitement) are coping mechanisms that contain her anxiety. This reveals a personality that craves structure and control even in moments of potential liberation; she is not ready to abandon her old self entirely but can risk a temporary, rule‑bound experiment.