''The Changeover: a Supernatural Romance'' is a
low fantasy novel for
young adults
A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...
by
Margaret Mahy
Margaret Mahy (21 March 1936 – 23 July 2012) was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growi ...
, published in
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
by J. M. Dent in the U.K. It is set in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
in the author's native New Zealand.
Mahy and ''The Changeover'' won the annual
Carnegie Medal from the
Library Association
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...
, recognising the year's best children's book by a
British subject
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
.
[ Thus she became the fourth writer with two such honours (of seven through 2012), having won the 1982 Medal for '' The Haunting''.][
]Atheneum Books
Atheneum Books was a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since its acquisition of Macmillan in 1994 and it created Athene ...
published a U.S. edition within the year.[
]WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
reports that ''The Changeover'' is Mahy's novel most widely held in participating libraries, second among all her works behind a picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...
collaboration, ''The Seven Chinese Brothers'' (1989).
Plot introduction
''The Changeover'' is set in a fairly new suburb of Christchurch called Gardendale; Mahy had renamed the suburb of Bishopdale for her book. It has a fairy-tale plot, with a devoted sister risking her life to save her bewitched brother. In some respects a coming-of-age story, it is also an unconventional romance between an aloof and difficult boy who happens to be a male witch and a strong-willed, psychically sensitive schoolgirl.
Plot summary
Laura Chant has one of her "warnings", a premonition that something is about to happen, but is forced to ignore it and go to school as usual. On the way home, she and her younger brother Jacko encounter the sinister Carmody Braque, who 'playfully' stamps Jacko's hand, the stamp appearing as an image of his face.
As Jacko becomes increasingly ill, Laura believes he has been possessed. She seeks the help of Sorensen "Sorry" Carlisle, recognized by her as a witch in hiding though to others he seems just a painfully well-behaved school prefect who photographs birds as a hobby. She learns that Braque is an ancient being who consumes the life force of others to keep himself alive. Sorry's grandmother Winter, one of a long line of witches, recommends that Laura should "changeover" from her normal life, to become a witch or "woman of the moon" herself. She would then be in a position to trick an unwary Braque into putting himself in her power. Although warned that the changeover can be dangerous, Laura is determined to save her brother, now very near death.
Laura experiences the changeover as a spirit journey through a dark forest, which is also at the same time Gardendale. The Carlisle witches help her through it, for their own reasons, and she emerges from the perilous passage with the power of nature and imagination awakened in her.
Taking Sorensen along to mask her new power, Laura confronts Braque and succeeds in gaining power over him and breaking his hold on Jacko. At first intending to make the evil entity suffer, she rejects the dark temptation and instead ends his unnatural existence.
Characters
* Laura Chant, a 14-year-old schoolgirl who lives in Gardendale, a suburb of Christchurch, and is sensitive to the supernatural
* Jacko Chant, Laura's 3-year-old brother
* Kate Chant, Laura's mother, manager of a bookshop in the Gardendale Mall
* Stephen Chant, Laura and Jacko's father, who lives in the north
* Julia Chant, Stephen's new wife, pregnant with their first child
* Mrs Fangboner, Jacko's babysitter
* Chris Holly, Kate's new boyfriend, first seen as a customer at the bookshop, a Canadian librarian working at the Christchurch Central Library
* Sorensen Carlisle, known as Sorry, an 18-year-old prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
at Laura's school, a male witch. Fostered as a baby, he returned to the Carlisle home aged 16
* Miryam Carlisle, Sorenson's mother, a witch
* Winter Carlisle, Miryam's mother, a witch
* Carmody Braque, a vampiric lemur
Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 exist ...
masquerading as an antique dealer
Literary significance and reception
The novel was awarded the Carnegie Medal for 1984 and was also the ALA Best Book for Young Adults, the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, the Booklist Editor's Choice[Amazon book description](_blank)
and a Boston Globe-Horn Honour Book.
It was described by ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' as "a seamless combination of supernatural thriller and entirely authentic teenage story", and by the School Library Journal
''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...
as "an extraordinarily rich and sensitive novel" with a beautiful but ornate style. In the re-release of the novel in 2007, the author notes the book's significance as having been both her first young adult novel and the first in which she effectively evoked the New Zealand setting. She also observes its lack of adolescent idiom, which gives it a timeless quality. It is recommended by several reading books, particularly for teenage girls.
''The Changeover'' has been the subject of scholarly essays, especially dealing with its fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
elements.
Film adaptation
A film based on the novel, starring Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''.
Spall performed in '' S ...
, Melanie Lynskey
Melanie Jayne Lynskey ( ; born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress widely known for her portrayals of complex women in several independent films and television shows and also known for her command of American dialects.
Lynskey is the recipi ...
, Lucy Lawless
Lucille Frances Lawless (; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', as D'Anna Biers on the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' seri ...
, Nicholas Galitzine, Erana James
Erana James is an actress from New Zealand. She is best known for her role as Toni Shalifoe in '' The Wilds''.
Early life
Erana James was born to Māori parents in Whangārei, New Zealand where she grew up on a farm. She lived there with her ...
, Benji Purchase, Kate Harcourt
Dame Catherine Winifred Harcourt (née Fulton; born 16 June 1927), known professionally as Kate Harcourt, is a New Zealand actress. Over her long career she has worked in comedy as well as drama in theatre, film, TV and radio.
Personal life
Ha ...
and Thomasin McKenzie
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie (born 26 July 2000) is a New Zealand actress. After a minor role in ''The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies'' (2014), she rose to critical prominence after playing a young girl living in isolation in Debra Granik's dra ...
was released in September 2017. The film was shot in Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
in 2016. The adaptation was given four-out-of-four stars by Matt Zoller Seitz
Matt Zoller Seitz (born December 26, 1968) is an American film and television critic, author and film-maker.
Career
Matt Zoller Seitz is editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for '' New York'' magazine and Vulture.com, as ...
, stating that " 's creepy, moving, and ultimately inspirational, and its more disturbing images stick in the mind.... In its own modest way, this is a perfect genre film."
References
External links
* —immediately, first US edition
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Changeover
Young adult novels
20th-century New Zealand novels
New Zealand children's books
Novels set in New Zealand
New Zealand speculative fiction works
Carnegie Medal in Literature winning works
1984 children's books
J. M. Dent books
1984 novels
Christchurch in fiction
Books by Margaret Mahy