I practically had to be dragged off the beautiful island of Maui, but I am back home, and life wasted no time slapping me right in the face - jetlag is real. I am exhausted. I have hardly had the energy to crack open a book all week without falling asleep almost immediately. So, I am digging back in the archives to tell you about a book that is so good that it will live rent-free in my brain forever, and I think you will love it, too.
“The Change” by Kirsten Miller takes place in a Long Island oceanfront town and is the story of three women of a certain age who discover that midlife changes bring a whole new type of empowerment. Nessa’s husband dies, and her twin daughters leave for college when she starts hearing voices. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that the voices calling out to her are the voices of the dead. Meanwhile, suave advertising executive Harriett is dealing with her career and marriage implosion. She hasn’t left her house in months, and the town speculates that Harriett and her garden have gone to seed. Harriett, however, is undergoing a stunning metamorphosis. And then there is Jo, an ambitious former executive who has spent the last thirty years at war with her body. When free-floating rage and hot flashes signal menopause’s arrival, it seems like the final straw – until Jo realizes that she can channel them and finally comes into her power. Guided by the voices that only Nessa can hear, the trio of women discover a teenage girl whose body was abandoned on a remote beach. Police brush off the discovery, but the women continue their investigation – which leads to more bodies and leads them to the town’s most exclusive neighborhood, where the residents are so wealthy that rules no longer apply. Using their newfound powers, Nessa, Harriett, and Jo decide to take matters into their own hands.
“The Change” is a little bit thriller, a little bit mystery, even a few laugh-out-loud moments – but most of all, it is a full-on feminist battle cry. It is empowering to see women in their 40s and beyond written as bold, unshakably strong people rather than invisible, shrinking old crones. There aren’t enough middle-aged female characters in literature that are like these three.
I hope you go grab this book and lose yourself in “girl power for grown women” this week. Wish me luck in my post-Hawaii vacation hangover – now I have to go take a nap. Come visit me on Instagram @allison.the.reader, where I am reading and rambling away as always.
Allison Diegel is the Executive Chaos Coordinator at the Diegel Home for Wayward Girls and Their Many Pets here in her hometown of Fallon. She has been reading since before she could talk, and now she likes doing lots of both.
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