The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
"The Changeover" is a fantasy novel by Margaret Mahy, first published in 1983, which reimagines the classic Arthurian myth through a female lens. The story follows Laura Chant, a young girl navigating the challenges of her life, including her brother Jacko's mysterious illness after an encounter with an evil shopkeeper named Carmody Braque. Unlike traditional narratives where female characters are often passive, Laura takes an active role in confronting and overcoming evil, showcasing her growth and resilience.
As Laura embarks on her quest, she receives guidance from her friend Sorry, a male witch, and his female family members, who help her embrace her own potential as a witch. The narrative weaves together elements of family dynamics, personal empowerment, and the journey of self-discovery against a backdrop of modern societal issues like divorce and child abuse.
Critical reception of "The Changeover" has been positive, with the book winning the Carnegie Medal, which recognizes excellence in children's literature. Mahy's work is noted for its imaginative storytelling and depth, drawing on literary allusions and psychological themes. Ultimately, "The Changeover" stands as a significant contribution to the representation of female heroism in literature, making it an engaging read for those interested in coming-of-age tales with a feminist perspective.
The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
First published: 1984
Subjects: Coming-of-age, love and romance, and the supernatural
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy
Time of work: The 1980’s
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Locale: Gardendale, a city subdivision in New Zealand
Principal Characters:
Laura Chant , a fourteen-year-old from a broken homeJacko , Laura’s three-year-old brotherCarmody Braque , an antique shop ownerKate , Laura’s attractive motherChris Holly , Kate’s male friendSorensen (Sorry) Carlisle , a male witch who is Laura’s love interestMiryam , Sorry’s mother, an affluent witchWinter , Sorry’s grandmotherStephen Chant , Laura’s father
Form and Content
In this British fantasy, a third-person narrative divided into thirteen chapters, Margaret Mahy has taken the Arthurian myth of male development and reworked it for a female protagonist. Instead of the passivity expected of female characters in the standard formula for romance, The Changeover shows an innocent girl who confronts evil, defeats it by her own actions, and moves independently toward maturity.
Laura Chant and her brother Jacko live with their divorced mother, who works in a bookstore. One evening, while waiting for their mother to get home from work, the children go to the library and Jacko checks out three books. Jacko is upset that the librarian is too busy to stamp both of his hands, and, when the peppermint-smelling man in a little miniature shop down the street offers to stamp his left one, he eagerly holds it out. The man’s own face is indelibly placed there, and Jacko becomes dangerously ill. Laura is sure that the shopkeeper, Carmody Braque, is an evil lemur, a dead soul from Hell who survives by stealing life from children. Jacko smells like peppermint, and he is racked by convulsions.
Laura’s mother is frantic. Her new admirer, Chris Holly, consoles her while Laura slips away to engage the help of a male witch who attends her school. His name is Sorensen Carlisle, or Sorry, and he has been in foster care most of his life. Abused and afraid of his feelings, he now lives with his newly discovered mother, Miryam, and grandmother, Winter. The next day, Sorry visits Laura at her home and agrees with the diagnosis of Jacko’s illness. The only cure is for a witch to gain power over the lemur and command him to release his victim. Since he would recognize a witch and protect himself from her, they decide to ask Sorry’s grandmother what to do. She tells them that Laura is a sensitive who could easily become a witch and thus fool the lemur, who now thinks her a harmless girl.
When Jacko worsens and must go to the hospital, Laura stays with Sorry’s family, and they help her transform herself. The three of them: Miryam, the enabler; Sorry, the gatekeeper; and Winter, the concluder, guide her on a journey that takes her back through all of her past experiences. When Laura is reborn as a witch, Winter hands her a wooden stamp with her own image reversed on it. She and Sorry take this tool to Carmody Braque’s house, and Laura gains control of him by stamping his hand with her own image. Jacko improves immediately when the lemur is banished from his body, but Laura is vindictive and wants to punish the evil man. She makes him suffer until Sorry shames her for her cruelty. Finally, she lets Carmody Braque dissolve into a pile of dry leaves in the park.
At the end, Chris and Kate plan to marry, Laura forgives her father for leaving, and Sorry is in touch with his feelings again. The young witches, Sorry and Laura, decide to wait until they are older for a relationship, but they will continue to communicate by telepathy over distance.
Critical Context
First published in Britain in 1983, The Changeover established a new formula for female initiation stories. Laura is a true heroine who “slays the dragon” by her own brave actions in a modern city—with all of its problems, such as divorce, child abuse, and crime. She does not need a male figure to rescue her, although one does help her. She falls in love but does not have sexual relations with or marry him, as most female characters do in romances. She pulls together the skeins of her ancestry, her cultural heritage, her literary experience, and her psychological self to fashion herself as a loving, nurturing young woman. This feat is accomplished through the feminine characteristics of imagination and intuition. To tell Laura’s story, Margaret Mahy uses allusions to familiar folktales and to children’s fantasies such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz (1900). “The Tyger,” a poem from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794), is the source of the book’s most powerful symbol, the significance of which is pulled from the psychological theories of Carl Jung. In 1984, The Changeover was awarded a Carnegie Medal, the United Kingdom’s annual award for the most outstanding children’s book of the previous year. It was Mahy’s second Carnegie Medal, the first coming in 1982 for The Haunting.