Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
This is no ordinary ghost story.
Wellington, 1931. Seventeen-year-old Phyllis Symons' body is discovered in the Mt Victoria tunnel construction site.
Eighty years later, Aroha Brooke is determined to save her life.
Wellington storyteller Andi C Buchanan crafts a thoroughly enjoyable read in this unusual novella that takes a real-life crime and associated urban legend as the sparkplug for a genre-blending story.
For many decades motorists in New Zealand's capital city have honked their horns while passing through Mt Victoria tunnel, a tradition said to have begun as a remembrance of a pregnant teenager who was murdered and buried in the tunnel's excavated earth while it was under construction ninety years ago. Or possibly, to ward off her ghost.
Buchanan begins with the crime behind that urban legend, taking us into the harsh life of an uneducated teenage girl during the Depression. She meets an older man, a widower, and thinks her life may change for the better. But it does not. We're lured in with crisp prose and vivid storytelling that quickly sets the scene and takes us into the life (and death) of Phyllis, and Wellington in the years between the wars.
What follows is a fascinating look at three different scenarios that could have played out after Phyllis is hit with a shovel and has dirt piled on her dying body near the tunnel construction site. In one, she becomes a ghost, in another she is saved, and yet another she saves herself. Each is an intriguing slice.
Buchanan takes us into 1920s-1930s New Zealand, and also more modern times, with a twist.
This is a ghost story, and a wonderful blend of mystery, suspense, and historical fiction. With some time-slip or time travel thrown in too. A terrific speculative fiction combo with a crime/mystery spine. Buchanan does an excellent job keeping things within the boundaries of the world she's created, making suspension of disbelief easy regardless of the fantastical elements. The storytelling is very good.
There's a really evocative sense of place, time(s), and the characters operating in this world. I was intrigued and compelled by the story/ies of Phyllis, and that of Aroha too. Buchanan shows us their lives and the other characters they encounter with a nice degree of nuance and complexity
I was left with a sense of this underlying feeling of humanity in FROM A SHADOW GRAVE, and even in its short length the book explores or touches on a variety of interesting issues, local and global. I found it a really fascinating read, and an impressive one. Well-written.
Overall a fascinating, enjoyable read that gives us a taste of Buchanan's writing talents. I'd certainly read more of their writing - in fact their next book would jump up my TBR pile. Very good.
Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. He has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His first non-fiction book, SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020. You can heckle him on Twitter.
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