The Changeling: A Novel

The Changeling (2017) is a fantasy/horror novel by American author Victor LaValle. LaValle was inspired to begin writing the book after he became a father. Using the genre approaches that have characterized much of his work, he wanted the book to show the ways that raising a child in the modern age can be both a joyful and terrifying experience. The novel received multiple awards after publication, including the 2017 Dragon Award in the Horror Novel category, the 2018 Locus Award for Best Horror Novel, and the 2018 World Fantasy Award. In 2023, it was adapted into a streaming series for Apple TV+.

The Changeling centers around Apollo Kagwa and Emma Valentine, two new parents whose lives are upended when Emma begins to suspect that her son, Brian, is not what he appears to be. As a result, Apollo embarks on a journey through a magical world that exists on the periphery of New York City.

This study guide refers to the Trade Paperback Edition of the novel, published by One World in 2018.

Content Warning: The source material for this study guide includes depictions of domestic violence, child abuse, and the death of a child. It also describes instances of parents attempting to kill their children and references death by suicide and racist attitudes.

Plot Summary

Apollo Kagwa is born to Brian West and Lillian Kagwa in 1977. By the time Apollo is four, Brian is no longer living with them, though Apollo has recurring nightmares of his father returning as a faceless stranger and promising to take Apollo with him. Apollo grows up to become a used book dealer. He eventually falls in love with Emma Valentine, a librarian, and she and Apollo start a relationship. Soon, they have a baby boy, and Apollo names him Brian, after his own father.

Apollo is a proud father to Brian; he takes care of the child after Emma returns to work. Apollo takes the baby along as he scouts estate sales for valuable books. He also posts several pictures of his time with the baby on Facebook, thriving on the social approbation he receives from his community.

Emma, meanwhile, starts receiving photos of Brian on her phone from an anonymous sender. Before she can show the photos to Apollo, they mysteriously disappear. Emma becomes increasingly worried and seeks advice from an online message board for mothers. Soon, she becomes convinced that Brian is not a human baby. Apollo refuses to listen to her, and they argue. One night, she binds Apollo to the steam pipe in their apartment and appears to kill the baby. She then runs away.

Three months later, Apollo is released from prison. He had taken Emma’s coworkers hostage in his grief and anger, hoping that they would know where she went; this is why he was imprisoned. Per the conditions of his parole, Apollo goes to group therapy, where he begins a friendship with a man named William Wheeler. William confides in Apollo, saying that he is estranged from his wife and daughters and wants to reconcile with them; Apollo is moved by his seemingly sincere desire. William also offers to help Apollo find Emma. Apollo wants to kill Emma as revenge for Brian’s death. He joins William on a boat ride to North Brother Island, where William suspects Emma has escaped to.

The island’s abandoned hospital buildings have been reclaimed by a group of women who call themselves the Wise Ones; their leader is a woman named Cal. From these women, Apollo learns that William has deceived him. William turns out to be an obsessive, bitter man who calls himself Kinder Garten. Kinder Garten’s technological skills enabled him to digitally stalk Apollo and Brian; he also sent the anonymous pictures to Emma and remotely deleted them from her phone. He is looking for his wife, Gretta, who has left him because William killed their oldest child. The Wise Ones lock Kinder Garten up; Apollo also discovers that these women sheltered Emma after she killed Brian. When Apollo confronts Kinder Garten about his many lies, he warns Apollo that if they do not surrender Gretta to him, he will destroy the island.

Soon, Kinder Garten orders an artillery strike on the island, forcing the Wise Ones to flee. Right before they leave, Cal urges Apollo to unearth Brian’s grave to learn the truth about him. Soon after, Apollo goes to the cemetery, and after digging up the body, he sees that Brian had indeed been replaced by a changeling. Apollo looks for Emma and sees her on the border of the woods at Forest Hills; a man named Jorgen Knudsen hands her some food, and Emma takes the food and disappears into the woods again.

Apollo follows Jorgen to his house, where Jorgen reveals that Emma has bewitched him to bring her food in the woods. He also explains that his ancestors came to the US from Norway by striking a deal with a troll for safe passage. In exchange, Jorgen’s ancestor vowed to give the troll a child, and each of his descendants have upheld this tradition over the centuries. Jorgen and his son, Kinder Garten, have continued this tradition in their own ways—they kidnap the children of people of color and offer them to the troll. Jorgen also tells Apollo that Kinder Garten offered the troll one of his own daughters to appeal to the troll to return power and opportunity to white people rather than to immigrants and people of color. Jorgen tries to warn his son about Apollo, so Apollo kills Jorgen. Then, he goes to the forest to reunite with Emma. They reconcile and decide to defeat the troll together and save Brian.

Before they go into the troll’s cave, Apollo speaks to his mother and learns that his father, Brian West, had attempted to kill him when he was a little child. His father was upset that Lillian wanted a divorce, so he intended to kill both Apollo and Lillian, but she had managed to stop him. She had tried to suppress the truth of this story for years, hoping that Apollo would forget it. Apollo is stricken to learn about this, especially as he has retained his attachment to his father these many years.

Apollo and Emma set Jorgen’s house on fire and discover Kinder Garten is in his lair in the basement, from where he stalks families online. Emma kills Kinder Garten before she and Apollo escape through a tunnel in the floor. The tunnel leads them to the chamber of the troll, where the real Brian has been kept all along. However, before they can save their child, the troll eats Brian. Apollo succeeds in outsmarting the troll and drawing it into the morning sunlight. Before the troll turns to stone, Apollo digs into its stomach and rescues Brian. The Kagwa family then returns home together, their bonds strengthened by their adventures.