The Changeover

The Changeover (1984) is a supernatural romance novel for young adults by New Zealand author Margaret Mahy. Set on the South Island of New Zealand, in the city of Christchurch, it concerns protagonist Laura Chant who tries to break a mysterious curse on her brother, Jacko. She is joined in her quest to cure her brother by Sorensen “Sorry” Carlisle, a headstrong, aloof male witch; along the way, she falls in love with him. Considered a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, the novel reflects on the psychological transformation that teenage girls undergo as they build their identities and values. Considered a seminal contribution to British children’s literature, it won the 1984 Carnegie Medal from the British Library Association.

The Changeover opens in Gardendale, a newly built suburb of Christchurch (based on the real-life suburb of Bishopdale). One morning, while getting ready for school, Laura has a “warning,” or premonition, that something bad is about to occur. After realizing that no adults will take her seriously, making her powerless, she goes to school. That evening, while returning home, she and Jacko are waylaid by a neighborhood menace, Carmody Braque. After an almost incomprehensible exchange, Braque pulls out a rubber stamp and stamps Jacko’s hand with an image of his face. The two siblings escape Braque and get home safely but are unable to shake the feeling that the encounter is not over.

In the coming days, Jacko becomes extremely sick. Laura suspects that Braque has cast a spell on him and that his strange symptoms are signs that he is possessed. To help Jacko, Laura takes matters into her own hands, contacting Sorry Carlisle, a classmate whom she believes is concealing his identity as a witch. No one else suspects Sorry’s identity: he is a straight-A student, school prefect, and takes photos of birds in his free time. Sorry admits his identity to Laura, then refers her to his grandmother, Winter, a matriarch from a long line of witches. Winter advises Laura to “changeover” from her normal human life to the world of the witches, or “women of the moon.” This transformation, she claims, would endow her with power, so that she can fight Braque and the curse he has placed on Jacko. The changeover is a dangerous ritual; on the other hand, Braque would never suspect that Laura was a witch, giving her the element of surprise. While Laura does not want to answer the call to become a witch, as Jacko is approaching death, she sees no other choice.



Laura performs the changeover ritual, which involves an astral journey through a dangerous forest of spirits that lies in another dimension in Gardendale. Sorry and Winter, using their knowledge of witchcraft and memories of completing the ritual themselves, help her through the forest. Laura makes it out alive, and with a new understanding of her power.

The novel culminates when Laura confronts Braque. Sorry joins at her side, to eliminate the suspicion that any magical activity is hers. Laura uses her new power to subdue Braque, breaking his curse on Jacko. She is then faced with a final, moral test: whether to cause the demon suffering or to end his existence. She lets Braque die, resisting the temptation that threatened to turn her into a dark witch.