The Change

Kirsten Miller’s 2022 novel The Change is a feminist thriller infused with fantasy elements that blend with the novel’s real-world setting and issues. Taking place in the affluent Long Island town of Mattauk, the story follows three women who each discover that the process of menopause has awakened their latent supernatural powers. Harriett, a former advertising executive, gains a witch-like control over botany; Jo, a gym owner, channels her hot flashes into superhuman strength and pyrokinesis; and Nessa, a widowed nurse, regains her hereditary ability to see and hear the ghosts of murdered women. United by a shared sense of purpose, the three women eventually form an alliance to seek justice for a series of young female victims whose deaths have been ignored by the corrupt local authorities. The novel explores themes of Menopause as a Source of Empowerment, Channeling Anger to Enact Change, and the Systemic Exploitation of Women.

The Change is the adult fiction debut for author Kirsten Miller, who previously wrote acclaimed young adult and middle-grade books, including the Kiki Strike series and the Edgar Award-nominated How to Lead a Life of Crime. Miller drew on her 25-year career in advertising to depict the corporate sexism and ageism that fuel the protagonists’ transformations. The novel gained widespread attention upon its release, notably as the Good Morning America Book Club Pick for May 2022. It is part of a contemporary literary trend that reclaims the “crone” archetype and embraces female rage, resonating with post-#MeToo cultural conversations. A television series adaptation of The Change is in development from the production company Made Up Stories, with Raelle Tucker attached as the writer.

This guide refers to the 2022 William Morrow first edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of graphic violence, sexual violence and harassment, rape, death, death by suicide, substance use, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and cursing.

Plot Summary

In the wealthy Long Island town of Mattauk, New York, three women undergo “the change” of menopause, which awakens their latent supernatural powers. Harriett Osborne, a recently divorced advertising executive who has been unjustly fired, becomes a recluse in her lavish home and cultivates a wild garden of poisonous plants and fungi. When confronted by Brendon Baker, the overzealous president of the Mattauk Homeowners Association, Harriett unleashes invasive, toxic weeds on his property, terrifying him into submission and inspiring her neighbor, Celeste Howard, to become her lover and ally.

Elsewhere, Jo Levison, the owner of a women-only gym called Furious Fitness, channels her intense hot flashes into a form of pyrokinesis and immense strength. She uses this power to defend one of her clients, Rosamund Harding, from a thuggish bodyguard sent by Rosamund’s abusive husband, the powerful art dealer Spencer Harding. The third woman is Nessa James, a widowed nurse practitioner whose hereditary psychic ability to see and hear the dead suddenly returns with a vengeance after years of silence. When she hears the disembodied voice of a murdered girl calling for help, she is intuitively guided to seek out Harriett and Jo, and the three soon unite with a shared purpose: Nessa will find the dead women, Jo will protect those who need shielding from abusive men, and Harriett will punish the guilty.

Guided by Nessa’s visions, the trio travels to the desolate Danskammer Beach and discover the body of a young Black woman wrapped in a trash bag. While there, Nessa also sees the ghosts of two other girls submerged in the ocean: a redhead whom they later discover is named Mandy Welsh, and an unidentified Asian girl. Their investigation quickly points toward the exclusive, gated community of Culling Pointe, which overlooks the beach. As the women’s investigation progresses, Harriett uses her past connections to wrangle an invitation to an event at Culling Pointe. While there, she and Jo encounter a billionaire philanthropist named Leonard Shaw (the most powerful man on the Pointe) and his partner, an adept event planner named Claude Marchand. Harriett also manages to release hundreds of mysterious seeds over the lawn of a corrupt, misogynistic CEO named Jackson Dunn, who sexually assaulted her years ago. She and Jo then briefly encounter an isolated and abused Rosamund Harding, who manages to pass Jo a strange clue: an apple with the word FAITH carved into its skin.

Later, after Rosamund is killed in a suspicious car crash, Jo searches the lockers at her gym and discovers one that Rosamund was secretly using. Its lock opens with the combination FAITH, and it contains a nude Polaroid of the murdered girl. The women believe that Rosamund must have discovered her husband Spencer’s penchant for serial murder: a realization that signed her own death warrant. Detective Franklin Rees, an old friend of Nessa’s late husband, tries to help the women’s unofficial investigation, but he is stonewalled by his superior, the arrogant Chief of Police John Rocca. The case is further complicated when a woman named Laverne Green, hired by Spencer’s bodyguard, falsely identifies the body and claims to be the girl’s mother; the narrative reveals that she has been paid by unknown bad actors who are attempting to shut down the women’s investigation.

The conspiracy escalates when Spencer Harding retaliates by sending an intruder to Jo’s home to kidnap her 11-year-old daughter, Lucy. Jo violently fights the man off with her powers, branding his face with her hand before the police arrive. Realizing that the authorities are compromised, Jo and Nessa go public, sharing their story on a popular true crime podcast, They Walk Among Us, hosted by Josh Gibbon. Jo provides irrefutable proof that Danskammer Beach is frequented by a serial killer when she goes scuba diving there and films the remains of Mandy Welsh and the other girl on the ocean floor. The podcast episode goes viral, and as police close in, Spencer Harding flees Culling Pointe in his helicopter, which crashes into New York Harbor, killing him. The victory is short-lived, as Chief Rocca appears on the news program Newsnight to present a fabricated version of events, taking full credit for solving the case and deliberately erasing the women’s involvement. He also fires Franklin Rees and falsely accuses him of leaking sensitive information.

Pondering the Chief’s corrupt actions, the women soon realize that the conspiracy extends beyond Spencer Harding. Harriett confirms that Rocca and a powerful CEO, Jackson Dunn, were also involved after she interrogates and kills Harding’s bodyguard, Chertov, when he invades her garden. The women discover that the powerful men of Culling Pointe have been using the exclusive community as a private hunting ground and sexually assaulting young, vulnerable women, with Rocca acting as a procurer and fixer. Meanwhile, on Culling Pointe, the seeds that Harriett scattered grow into a wild infestation of Scotch broom, a flammable plant that attracts bees; when the highly allergic Jackson Dunn is hospitalized after a bee sting, Jo realizes that Harriett engineered this punishment deliberately. Later, a full swarm of bees claims Dunn’s life.

Events escalate when the beleaguered Rocca attempts to abduct Nessa’s daughter, Breanna, but is thwarted. When Jo and Nessa confront him at his home, his wife, Juliet, whom Harriett has already secretly radicalized and supplied with wolfsbane, poisons him with a coffee cake.

The final piece of the puzzle is Leonard Shaw. After Jo shares evidence suggesting Leonard’s involvement in the disappearances of many young women at the Pointe, she and Nessa rush to the exclusive neighborhood to warn Harriett, who is now there for a supposed horticultural consultation. Once on the property, the ghosts of dozens of murdered girls overwhelm Nessa. Claude, devastated by Leonard’s betrayal, confronts him on his dock and beats him to death with a nine iron, but the narrative reveals that far from being innocent in this matter, Claude was the primary person who procured the girls, luring them in with promises of a better life and then handing them over to the abusive men of the Pointe. Claude attempts to defend her actions by claiming that she never knew the girls would be killed, and she manages to escape with a laptop containing valuable evidence. However, Jo uses her inner heat and fury to ignite the Scotch broom bushes, and the ensuing wildfire engulfs Culling Pointe. Harriett retrieves the laptop from Claude, who is then killed by an exploding propane tank. The fire effectively erases the men’s “slaughterhouse.” In the aftermath, with the primary culprits dead, the women embrace their new justice-driven purpose. The laptop provides the necessary evidence for Nessa and Franklin to identify the victims and bring closure to their families; the first girl is identified as Faith Reid of Jamaica. Jo establishes a global self-defense organization for girls, and Harriett continues her work as a vigilante, targeting and punishing other corrupt and powerful men.