Book Summary and Reviews of The Change by Kirsten Miller

The Change by Kirsten Miller

The Change

A Novel

by Kirsten Miller

  • Readers' Rating (5):
  • Published:
  • May 2022, 480 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick—a gloriously entertaining and knife-sharp revenge fantasy about three women whose midlife crisis brings unexpected new powers—putting them on a collision course with the evil that lurks in their wealthy beach town. 

In the Long Island oceanfront community of Mattauk, three different women discover that midlife changes bring a whole new type of empowerment…

After Nessa James's husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, she's left all alone in a trim white house not far from the ocean. In the quiet of her late forties, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn't take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead—a gift she's inherited from her grandmother, which comes with special responsibilities.

On the cusp of 50, suave advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. She hasn't left her house in months, and from the outside, it appears as if she and her garden have both gone to seed. But Harriett's life is far from over—in fact, she's undergone a stunning and very welcome metamorphosis.

Ambitious former executive Jo Levison has spent thirty long years at war with her body. The free-floating rage and hot flashes that arrive with the beginning of menopause feel like the very last straw—until she realizes she has the ability to channel them, and finally comes into her power.

Guided by voices only Nessa can hear, the trio of women discover a teenage girl whose body was abandoned beside a remote beach. The police have written the victim off as a drug-addicted sex worker, but the women refuse to buy into the official narrative. Their investigation into the girl's murder leads to more bodies, and to the town's most exclusive and isolated enclave, a world of stupendous wealth where the rules don't apply. With their newfound powers, Jo, Nessa, and Harriett will take matters into their own hands…

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Miller triumphs...The Change is that rare treat: a suspenseful story with great pacing, memorable characters, and an engaging voice. Fantastic in every way, this fierce anthem against misogyny is a smash." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A pointed, punchy, and potent thriller...wry and clever, serious and exacting, and masterfully suspenseful." —Booklist (starred review)

"The novel takes on serious issues but doesn't take itself too seriously; there's plenty of mordant humor, a suspenseful plot, and mostly brisk pacing. Crime fiction, superpower fantasy, and sharp satire about sexism and ageism mesh for a satisfying read." —Kirkus Reviews

"A delicious fantasy full of righteous rage, thorny entanglements, powerful sisterhood, and (wink, nudge) herbal remedies. Forget the teen dabblers of The Craft, or the lovelorn witches of Practical Magic: Joe, Nessa, and Harriet are the dynamic coven that angry feminist dreams are made of, here to remind us that everything gets better with age and experience— especially revenge." —Kat Rosenfield, author of No One Will Miss Her

"Searing and witty and full of so much warranted rage. This was a book I didn't know I was aching for. I cheered on every page." —Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows and Small Favors

This information about The Change was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Kirsten Miller Author Biography

Kirsten Miller (born 1973) works in advertising in New York City and is the author of the Kiki Strike series and The Eternal Ones. In 2001, the front lawn of a Manhattan nursing home collapsed to reveal an underground room, giving Miller the idea for the first book of the Kiki Strike series, set in the underground tunnels and rooms beneath the city. She created Kiki Strike and the Irregulars (named after Sherlock Holmes' Baker Street Irregulars) to explore these secret passageways. Kirsten is also co-author of a young adult novel, Nightmares! with Jason Segel.

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