What I Am Reading: "Changeling" by Matt Wesolowski

The sixth “episode” of the podcast has two twists this time, one springing from the other. That must render the novel twice as good. Changeling again involves folklore in the story, as Hydra did. However, instead of modern, internet-based folklore, this novel focuses on much more traditional folklore. A “changeling,” in the European folk tradition, is a child of fairies that has been swapped for a human child. We are given to understand, according to the novel, that this was a way of explaining the behavior of problematic children.

Changeling focuses on the disappearance of Alfie Marsden in 1988. A seven-year-old boy, he seemingly wanders away from his father’s car during a storm, into the fictional Wentshire forest on the England-Wales border. This forest is the subject of many local legends, supposedly inhabited by fairies and witches, and the site of many strange occurrences.

I, like most people, would not have initially thought of fairies as being a prime candidate for the source of horror in a story. Fairies usually link to Disney in my mind. However, they have long appeared as a menace in folklore (or “fairy tales,” if you prefer), cursing communities living near their forests or luring travelers to their doom. Fairies connect to modern horror through Arthur Machen, Victorian-era Welsh fantasy/horror writer. His stories of fairies, such as “The White People,” have a strong flavor of paganism and pre-Christian belief; Wesolowski quotes from it in the book’s epigraph.

Anyway, Changeling centers around Sorrel and Sonia, the boy’s parents. The backstory is originally set up to show Sorrel as a strong martyr, searching for his son, and Sonia as an irresponsible drunk. This view is then taken apart over the course of the book. The six interviews consist of one of Sorrel’s friends; a construction worker who shares tales of the haunted woods; one of Alfie’s teachers; another family friend who accompanied the family on a fraught camping trip in the same woods; Sonia; and finally, Sorrel. A picture emerges of a child who was normal early in life and then troublesome after a frightening camping trip; and of a controlling and gaslighting father.

Each Six Stories book also has another set of recordings that are interspersed with the chapters proper, it is unclear if these are supposed to be part of the podcast. In the eponymous first novel, it is an interview with the owner of the wooded property who found Tom Jeffries’ body while chasing an apparition; in Hydra it is Arla’s audio diaries from her asylum as her mental condition deteriorates. In Changeling, this is Scott King’s recordings of his meetings with a character essential to the story, the mysterious psychic who emerged as a minor media sensation during the search for Alfie. King is characterized in this book more than he has been previously, as he develops a strong attachment to this old, blind woman and shows trepidation about the secrets she has to share with him; for her involvement in the case runs deeper than first appearances indicate.

At the end, Scott King says that this may be the final Six Stories recording. The book only came out in late 2018, but I am hopeful that Matt Wesolowski will continue the series, if he sees fit. This book continued my enthusiasm for the series.