Lady Business

After losing her job at the library, Celeste "Cel" Walden starts working at the haunting Logan Museum as an archivist. But the job may not be the second chance she was hoping for, and she finds herself confronting her mental health, her relationships, and before long, her grasp on reality as she begins to dream of a young woman she's never met, but feels strangely drawn to. Especially after she asks Cel for help…

As Cel attempts to learn more about the woman, she begins losing time, misplacing things, passing out—the job is becoming dangerous, but she can't let go of this mysterious woman. Who is she? Why is she so fixated on Cel? And does Cel have the power to save her when she's still trying to save herself?

Archival Quality is one of those books where I’ve finished it and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. It’s a graphic novel revolving around Cel, a former librarian recovering from a breakdown, who finds herself working the night shift at an archive that used to be a sanatorium and is probably not haunted.

(It’s definitely haunted.)

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The long and the short of it is that Archival Quality wasn't for me, and I don't know if it was that my expectations of the book were wrong or if it's a problem with the book. It's worth checking out if you want a ghost story about 1920s sanatoriums and mental illness though!

[Caution warnings: Historical medical abuse, untreated mental illness]

[This review is based on an advanced reader copy from Netgalley.]