Who mentioned this recently? Was it you, Colleen? I forget. Whoever it was, good job. The Changeover has a new fan.
Fourteen-year-old Laura Chant occasionally has what she calls "warnings". She had one the day her father left the family, and she's had another one this morning. She doesn't know what is coming, but she knows it won't be good.
Later that day, she's walking with her little brother Jacko when they encounter an antiques dealer called Carmody Braque. She realizes almost immediately that he was the reason for her warning, but by then it's too late.
To save Jacko from Braque's influence, Laura knows she needs to get help from Sorenson (Sorry) Carlisle, an older schoolmate and prefect who she's had little-to-no contact with in the past. Why? Because Sorry is a witch.
I really thought I'd read this before. It didn't take long for me to realize I hadn't -- there is absolutely no way I'd have forgotten the claustrophobic creeping horror of it:
The whole room seemed to gasp with a dirty sweetness, and she breathed it in before she could stop herself. The scent of used peppermint came unmistakeably along with it.
Jacko slowly turned his head to look at her. His Ruggie lay on the pillow beside him, but he showed no interest in it. He was smiling dreadfully, his teeth unnaturally large, his face in retreat around the smile, but his eyes -- at least his eyes were still his own, though brimming with a still flood of tears.
It wasn't just the fact that it gave me the twitchy willies. It wasn't just that the Laura/Sorry romance/relationship worked from the very beginning -- that the she-knew-he-was-a-witch-and-he-knew-that-she-knew-knowingness bit created tension between them before they even interacted. It wasn't just that the language was rich or just that Margaret Mahy was never guilty of being condescending to her readers by being over-explanatory. It wasn't just that Laura is immediately believable, with her jumble of emotions -- love and anger and frustration and jealousy.
I mean, of course it was partly all of that, but for me, it was that all the characters -- in just over two-hundred pages -- were all so well-drawn: Laura's mother and her new beau, Sorry's mother and grandmother, and of course, Sorry himself.
Really fantastic. Highly recommended for fans of dark romantic fantasy and supernatural stories in realistic settings and urban fantasy/horror. (That's not too specific, right?)
Wow, though. I think it might sell better if they re-vamp the cover art.
It was me -- you're now the fourth person to read this since then (that I know of), which makes me very, very happy!
Posted by: gwenda | 18 May 2007 at 10:59 AM
I've always been a fan of this book. But if you think THAT cover was bad, check out this one. I'm not sure what was up with this or this. The best of the lot, we can all agree, is this. I wish I could find the awful original paperback cover though. That's the one I read as a teen and it's pure delicious ridiculousness.
Posted by: Fuse #8 | 18 May 2007 at 11:15 AM
Auugh!! Leave it to you to dig up those covers.
And thanks, Gwenda!
Posted by: Leila | 18 May 2007 at 11:20 AM
It's not fair, I found this site and you keep reminding me of books I loved and making want to read new ones...the unread book pile is going to be getting a whole lot bigger...
Posted by: Nic Dempsey | 18 May 2007 at 01:41 PM
Yes - Gwenda had a big "I love you" moment with this book a couple of weeks ago. I meant to post at her site at the time that I also love Mahy's Catalog of the Universe. It is not fantasy - it's more a coming-of-age novel about two very cool/quirky teens but I love it just as much. She's one of my all time favorite authors.
(And it was reissued recently with a very acceptable cover!)
Posted by: Colleen | 18 May 2007 at 04:40 PM
I hated hated hated this book. It's the first book that I ever actually gave up on and stopped halfway through. About a month later I felt bad and tried again, only to quit in the same spot. I don't know what it is about the book, but I just couldn't finish it!!
Posted by: Faithful Reader from Canada | 23 May 2007 at 02:22 AM
I don't know if I've ever actually read this one, but now I think I have to. I will echo Nic Dempsey's endorsement of Catalog of the Universe... I think I must have reread that book about 40 times when I was twelve.
Posted by: LMC | 28 May 2007 at 06:44 PM
it's wonderfull!!!^___^*
Posted by: | 14 April 2008 at 11:23 AM
I first read it when I was 14-15 and its been a favorite since.My only regret is that I dont own a copy of it. Ps as for the cover,I have always liked the swedish cover(Im swedish!) Even if its dated.
Posted by: LiteratureVixen | 18 July 2008 at 05:49 PM