published 1984; paperback 1984, Puffin

Laura Chant, a 14-year-old New Zealand schoolgirl, is living a rather ordinary life. Her parents are divorced and her mother struggles to make ends meet to take care of Laura and her 3-year-old brother Jacko. Laura does well in school, helps out at home taking care of Jacko, and wonders what boys are like. The only unusual thing about her is that occasionally she gets premonitions about significant things that are about to happen to her.

Laura gets such a premonition on the day that an ancient spirit with the manifestly evil name of Carmody Braque gains power over Jacko and begins to feed off his life force, reanimating his own non-living body at Jacko’s expense. Laura sees this happening but is powerless to stop it. In desperation she calls on the aid of Sorensen Carlisle, an older boy at her school whom she has long suspected of being a witch.

Sorry, his mother Miriam, and his grandmother Winter are all witches. Their counsel is for Laura to become a witch herself: By undergoing a harrowing spiritual trial, Laura can “change over,” rouse the powers that are half-awake in her, and use them to stop Carmody Braque.

Though The Changeover is billed as a “supernatural romance,” the relationship that develops between Laura and Sorry is by no means conventional. Sorry was sent to live with a foster family when he was a baby, and after being physically abused decided that not having a heart was safer than caring about people. Miriam and Winter are wary of Sorry, treating him (as he says) “like a dangerous pet at the end of a piece of rotten string.” The difference in their ages is also a problem: Laura is 14 and Sorry is 17. Laura, however, is more than a match for Sorry, gutsily standing up to him when he puts the moves on her and challenging his motives and feelings at every turn.

Though written for young adults, The Changeover is mature enough to hold the interest of the older crowd as well. Intense and subtle, it's as sleek as a stretching cat.

Review by Sara Lipowitz
Reviewed May 26, 1997

ISBN 0-14-036599-0

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