A review by mariahaskins
From a Shadow Grave by Andi C. Buchanan

5.0

This is a compelling story that is both strange and wonderful, weaving together a ghost story, history (it's mostly set in New Zealand in and around the 1930s), time travel, and more. The novella is divided into four parts as it delves into the real, and imagined, history of Phyllis Symons who lived and died in Wellington in the early 20th century. Buchanan gives us an unflinching and harrowing look at her life and her death and her afterlife. It's a story that grabs you and will not let go.

I love how the grit and grime of everyday life exists beside the supernatural, and magic and science fiction, in this story, and I also adore the strong and compelling sense of time and place: I really felt transported to another place and time while reading it.

This is a story about a woman who is murdered, but the murder is not the point. Rather, it's about the life she had and might have had. A haunting and luminous book.