Powerful ode to feminism. The Change by Kirsten Miller

Synopsis

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…

Audiobook Review

5 stars

And a special mention for January LaVoy who once again does an impeccable job narrating that compelling story!

You know when your mom is dropping by for a visit and you just begin to gush enthusiastically about your latest read that you have a winner!

I had never read anything by Kirsten Miller before but I know now that it won’t be the last of her books that I read!

The story follows three women and alternate point of view, mixing contemporary fiction, magical realism and feminism.

Nessa is an ex nurse in her late forties whose late husband was a cop. Now that her daughters are out of the house, she feels just empty, without purpose.

Until one night, she hears the voice of a dead girl. And she knows that the gift she inherited from her grandmother is awake again.

Hearing dead girls voices comes with great responsibilities. Finding their families, giving their identities back and making sure their killer gets punished.

Harriet Osborne was a legend in marketing, she has won countless awards…on paper. She was never credited her brilliant ideas and it was always the men who stole her hard work and had their names on the prize.

Once she catches her husband cheating on her and then is fired from her company, she’ll retire in her home, letting nature takes its course in her garden. From domesticated and controlled, the garden will become a savage land and Harriet will begin her transformation that will earn her the nickname of “witch”.

Rejuvenated, free, more beautiful and powerful than ever, Harriet will make sure that abusers are punished.

The last woman we’ll follow in that story is Jo Levison. She has spent decades in hotel management. Improving security for female staff, imposing new security measures like always work in three. She also fought against her own body, he painful menstruation, her hot flashes in her late forties for decades. Most days, Jo feels ablaze with an incessant heat mounting inside her body.

When a wealthy client rapes a maid and goes unpunished by the management. Jo takes matters in her own hands and discover that she has incredible power and inhuman strength.

She swears to protect women and help them become strong thanks to Furious Fitness, the “women only” fitness club that she will open.

Soon, Nessa being called by a dead girl will have her meet and befriend Harriett, the punisher, and Jo, the protector. They know that they are moved by a greater force and must united their talents to fight for abused women and girls.

The three women will soon discover that there is more than one girl who has been murdered and they will go on a hunt to catch the murderer after the local police does nothing to discover the truth.

All suspicion lead them to a gated community designed for the rich and powerful.

What will follow will be a deadly game, filled with dirty secrets, threats, murders, intimidation but above all else, the rise to power of these three women.

That story was powerful and I really loved seeing all these women’s transformation.

Thanks for reading!

Sophie