The Changeling by Kate Forsyth

Title: The Changeling

Author: Kate Forsyth

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Publisher: Penguin Australia

Published: 7^th July 2026

Format: Paperback

Pages: 416

Price: $34.99

Synopsis: Set against Scotland’s first witch-hunt, a young woman with faery blood must defy two queens to survive love, magic and treachery.

On her fourteenth birthday, Caiti NicNeven discovers her true mother is the queen of the Sidhe, the faery folk who dwell beneath Scotland’s hollow hills. Bound by ancient grievance, the faery queen demands Caiti become the instrument of her revenge against the mortal crown stolen a thousand years before.

Drawing on a dangerous magic she barely understands, Caiti flees. She finds refuge at the treacherous court of Mary, Queen of Scots. As fear and religious fervour grip the country, Mary is pressured into passing an Anti-Witchcraft Act, placing every woman – and every whispered spell – in peril.

Watching from the shadows, the faery queen tightens her hold. When Caiti falls in love with Robbie, the son of a local laird, her mother strikes, cursing him to dance himself to death beneath the faery moon.

To save the man she loves, Caiti must cross into the faery realm and confront the mother who would destroy her – and claim a wild, dangerous magic of her own.

Inspired by the true story of Scotland’s first witch-hunt, The Changeling is a spellbinding tale of witchcraft, forbidden love and defying fate.

~*~

‘They will cut your heart from your body and bury it in secret I told my queen.’ This is the first line of Kate Forsyth’s latest novel, The Changeling. It’s set in Scotland amidst the seven years between Mary, Queen of Scots returning to Scotland and her fleeing, hoping to be saved by her cousin. And in these seven years, Caiti, a changeling child herself, serves the queen during this period.

Caiti is fourteen when she finds out her real mother is the faery queen, the Queen of the Sidhe. She’s also the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, with a destiny that she is being told she has to embrace to save the world. She’s told it’s all up to her to save her fae family, to restore them to the throne that was stolen from them, forcing them to live in the darkness. Yet Caiti is determined to push her true mother away. She wants to be rid of the faeries. She wants to get on with her life, despite the magic that has woven its way into her life and everything happening, from Mary marrying Lord Darnley, giving birth to her son and signing the Anti-Witchcraft Act that sets off witch-hunt around Scotland. And the people Caiti loves are in danger, including Robbie, the son of the laird her family has served. Robbie and Caiti fall in love, yet there are forces trying to keep them apart. Unless Caiti can break the spells holding everyone in their grip.

Kate Forsyth’s latest novel is a work of beauty that brings history, mystery and magic to life. The tumultuous times the book is set in reverberate throughout the story, drawing on history and the possibilities of what could have happened had the stories that were buried been heard, because these were the stories that would have shaped what people knew and understood. If the women who were deemed witches, even Mary, Queen of Scots, given a chance to have a voice, would things have been different? We will never know, but this novel sets up what happens and what could have happened when these women worked together and supported each other. And what might have happened had there been people like Robbie and his father around to listen.

The historical events are as they happened, and some are drawn on rumours that can never be proven. I loved that in this story, the faery kingdom was real, that people did believe it was there or know it was there. It gave the story its magic, as did the empowerment of women trying to forge their own path and find their way in a patriarchal world, which did rear its ugly head with the men who surrounded Mary, and the events that led to Rizzio and Darnley’s deaths, all of which are part of history. As is Mary’s imprisonment and everything that happened once she fled. This historical backdrop served the fantastical and magical elements well, which also shaped Robbie and Caiti’s relationship and how everyone around them responded to her, and whom she was able to trust with her secret.

Astute readers might notice a clever reference to Kate’s other Mary, Queen of Scot’s novel, The Puzzle Ring. This is a children’s novel, deals with a similar time period to this, with a particular focus on the last months and year or so of Mary’s time in Scotland. There is one scene that I recognised as a reference to this novel, and a particular moment and character in that novel too. It sets things up for what is to come in both novels. This lovely reference made me smile, because I could instantly picture the characters and where this took place in that book. I loved this, and its delightful ability to link the two novels, but also make readers wonder where the children had come from if they haven’t read that novel.

I love Kate’s set in Scotland, there is a joy and familiarity in them, and they also feel like home. This one is a delight, a joy and a triumph that brings everything Kate loves and knows about fairytales together. The number seven, which flows through everything, from how many years Caiti was with Mary, to how many parts there are, the spell from the faery queen and the ages that she appeared to Caiti. Ages seven, fourteen and twenty-one. The novel itself also takes place over seven years. So the number seven is important here and in fairy tales.

This novel has something for everyone, from magic to history, to romance, to mystery and elements of intrigue, empowering women and giving them a voice. Many of Kate’s books give women or people who were overlooked a voice, which is what makes her books and stories so powerful. They are layered and full of so many elements that feed into everything that brings them together, and The Changeling is no exception. It is a fabulous book, and one that I adored.