The Changeling is a dark fantasy and fairy tale novel by Joy Williams published in 1978 by Doubleday.Staff Review: "THE CHANGELING." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2018. Gale Academic OneFile, Accessed July 15, 2026. It was reprinted in a fortieth anniversary edition by Tin House Books with a introduction by Karen Russell. It was also previously republished in 2008 by Fairy Tale Review Press as its 30th anniversary edition with a new preface by Rick Moody.
Plot
The novel opens with Pearl & her infant son, Sam, at a bar in Florida, fleeing her husband, Walker, and his wealthy family who reside on a remote island off the eastern seaboard of the United States. Her husband finds her in the bar & takes her & the child to the Miami airport so they can fly back to their island. The writer Tobias Carroll sums up the plot as ". . . a young woman marries the scion of a wealthy family, attempts to escape, and, after a tragic event, loses her sense of self under the controlling sway of the aforementioned family — as well as copious amounts of alcohol."
References
Further reading
External links Tin House . Penguin Random House