The Changeling

A Novel

By: Victor LaValle

Narrated by: Victor LaValle

“[This] haunting tale weaves a mesmerizing web around fatherhood, racism, horrific anxieties and even To Kill a Mockingbird. And the backdrop for this rich phantasmagoria? The boroughs of New York.” (The New York Times)

Winner of an American Book Award, a Locus Award for Best Horror Novel, a British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel, and a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.

Nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award, an International Dublin Literary Award, and a Mythopoeic Award for Literature.

When Apollo Kagwa's father disappeared, he left his son a box of books and strange recurring dreams. Now, Apollo is a father himself - and as he and his wife, Emma, settle into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Apollo's old dreams return, and Emma begins acting odd. At first, Emma seems to be exhibiting signs of postpartum depression. But before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act and vanishes. Thus begins Apollo’s quest to find a wife and child who are nothing like he'd imagined. His odyssey takes him to a forgotten island, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever.

Named One of Paste’s Best Horror Books of the Decade • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • USA Today • The New York Public Library • NPR • BuzzFeed • Kirkus Reviews • Book Riot

“The thriller you won’t be able to put down.” (O: The Oprah Magazine)

“By turns enchanting, infuriating, horrifying, and heartbreaking, The Changeling is never less than completely engaging.” (NPR)

“Strange and wonderful.” (The New York Times)

“A dark fairy tale of New York, full of magic and loss, myth and mystery, love and madness. The Changeling is a mesmerizing, monumental work.” (Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings)

“[A] bewitching masterpiece.... Like a woke Brothers Grimm, his clever new spin on the ages-old changeling myth is a modern fairy tale for the Trump era, taking on fatherhood, parenting, marriage, immigration, race and terrifying loss.” (USA Today)

“Intense, riveting.... The story is a long, slow burn with a lingering sizzle.” (Los Angeles Review of Books)

“A modern-day tale of terror rooted in ancient myth and folklore, brimming with magical revelation and emotional truth.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

©2017 Victor LaValle (P)2017 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"If the literary gods mixed together Haruki Murakami and Ralph Ellison, the result would be Victor LaValle." (Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See)

"LaValle has a knack for blending social realism with genre tropes, and this blend of horror story and fatherhood fable is surprising and admirably controlled.... LaValle has successfully delivered a tale of wonder and thoughtful exploration of what it means to be a parent. A smart and knotty merger of horror, fantasy, and realism." (Kirkus Reviews)

The Weirdest, Most Wonderful Damn Book

The Changeling is by far the book I want to shower all my love on in 2017. I want to hug strangers in the street and whisper in their ears how amazing this audiobook is, that it’s one of the weirdest, most wonderful damn books I’ve listened to in a long time. At the heart of this modern-day fairy tale is Apolla Kagwa, a scrappy book dealer and devoted dad who wears a Baby Bjorn all over New York City and takes his infant to the playground at 4:30 every morning. After a horrific chain of events, Apollo loses his wife and son, and—wrecked with grief—sets out across the 5 boroughs on an epic quest to rescue and redeem them. The path is strewn with witches, monsters, and trolls (both the fairy tale kind and the internet kind), and Kagwa’s New York is both recognizable and completely fantastical. Victor LaValle is one of those unicorn novelists who happens to be a fabulous narrator of his own work, and as he reads you this story, his voice is like magic and butter. Above all, The Changeling is one black man’s ode to fatherhood and the lengths to which he will go to protect his family.

Very Slow Start, But Pays Off Big

This is a slow burn of a story that demands you trust it for a good long while before it begins the fairytale adventure aspects of its journey, but boy does it deliver. Magical realism in the modern era done right. Finely detailed so that you don't miss a single moment, big or small. Plotted by a master who left no stone unturned. Bravo!

Engrossing Read

The Changeling is not a common story. It is beautifully written and the twists in the plot are breathtaking! Interestingly there is a mixture of cutting edge technology juxtapositions with fairytales.
The narration by the author is excellent. My only complaint is that it is finished. Now to find more books by the author.

Improbable modern fairytale

Not at all what I was expecting but then again, nothing's impossible in New York!!

Great writing, bit too weird in the end for me

A strange book. Loved the beginning. The end not so much, but I tend to prefer when supernatural aspects are grounded in the weirdness of is humans and this world. But writing that I begin to question myself. Worth a listen!

gruesome... but intriguing. well worth the read!

a modern day Grimm Frairie tale. what an interesting and thoroughly captivating story. these days identify theft and voyeurism makes most of us easy prey, but what if those internet trolls are also the scary monsters that our grandparents used to tell us about on dark stormy nights...

Clever...clever...clever

A smartly-written fairy tale for adults....dreamy, disturbing and thoroughly enjoyable. Great job with the narration.

An unexpected place for this adversary

There is so much about this book that I think anyone vested in mythology and urban fantasy could a.) enjoy b.) value and c.) learn from. I liked the overlap of the modern (the nod to Maurice Sendak) with the old, as well as the cultural weaving. I may be reading too far into it, but I feel like the author is making some underlying statements regarding white influence on black families, the cultural phenomenon of "daddy issues", and the astronomical effect of white colonization still remaining (in fantasy and reality). I also really appreciated the integration of modern technology into the fantastic. The writing isn't as lyrical as many fantasy authors tend to make their prose, but it's realistic in a way that doesn't distract from the story. It's a very matter of fact story (which is funny, given that it's fantasy, bordering on horror) and LaValle tells it in such a way that describes but doesn't need to gild itself. Admittedly, I did not anticipate either the antagonist or the ending. It was nice to be surprised for once! I also appreciated hearing open, honest recognition of racial inequality in such a way that actuates with current reality. Those kinds of things are often implied and yet infrequently addressed, and I feel like urban fantasy is a really interesting place to maintain that. It's not discarded just because it's a fantasy novel, and it's not glossed over in the interest of avoiding being "political".

The perfect Autumn read

LaValle weaves a tale as old as time into the modern day. He hits on relevant societal topics without losing any of the magic. A typical changeling story is turned into a something we all can identify with.

Incredible listen

At first.. it’s sort of a hard one to get into but it’s well worth the wait. Victor is incredibly good at painting a picture with detail so make sure you preface that before giving his books a read!