The Changeover, by Margaret Mahy

Title: The Changeover
Author: Margaret Mahy
Genre: New Zealand, Paranormal, Witch
Publisher: HarperCollins New Zealand
Pages: 281
Copy Origin: Purchased from Borders
New Zealand Readers: Fishpond, MightyApe
International Readers: The Book Depository, IndieBound

From the moment Laura sees the face in the mirror, she knows it’s an omen. It isn’t the first time she’s had a premonition, but never before have the consequences been so dire. That very day, the sinister shopkeeper Carmody Braque touches and brands her little brother. As Jacko fights for his life, Laura seeks out the one person who might be able to help. But the path she is about to take will change her forever.

Margaret Mahy is one of those authors who seems to never put out a book that I feel anything less than extreme love towards¹. The Changeover is a wonderful example of Mahy’s work, combing beautiful writing, vivid characters and a compelling story into a package that earned Mahy her second Carnegie Medal win.

Laura, the main character of the novel, is a wonderfully complex and realised character. Throughout the book she seems both wise beyond her fourteen years, yet in the same breath she is still very much the child she is supposed to be. She is shown as strong and compassionate, fiercely devoted to her younger brother and willing to go to whatever length she has to to save him. On the other side she is also clearly sensitive and observant, not just able to see the marks of the supernatural but also the more mundane aspects of the world around her.

It is very easy to see the metaphor in the story – that awkward time of teendom, that changeover from girl to young woman. The discovery of one’s own inner powers not only acts as a stand-in for sexual growth and understanding of its power, but in The Changeover it stands alongside it as well. And the whole tale is told in Mahy’s wonderful writing style, which provides so many beautiful descriptions out of the simplest of moments and words. The magic in the story might not appear for the characters until a little way in, but for the reader the magic in the words appears right from the very first sentence. Despite being first published in 1984, Mahy’s writing provides a dateless feel to everything, allowing it to feel just as magical over twenty years after it was first read by audiences.

While the title of “My Favourite Mahy Book Ever” (along with “One Of My Favourite Books Ever”) still goes to The Tricksters, The Changeover is still a wonderful novel and an excellent example of Mahy’s work. For anyone looking for a powerful tale of change and one girl’s strength and determination, then stop here, as The Changeover is the book for you.

1. I do have a few of her YA books that I haven’t read and/or am not in possession of, but knowing Mahy I doubt I’ll be disappointed. [↩]

13 January 2010 Rating: 5 Stars New Zealand, Paranormal, Witch  Print Post