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Humdinger1

I have read your diary from the start @KajiKita; what can I say but congratulations!  I've subscribed.  Simply fascinating love Humdinger x 

KajiKita

Humdinger1 said:

I have read your diary from the start @KajiKita; what can I say but congratulations!  I've subscribed.  Simply fascinating love Humdinger x 

Really? 😊 Congratulations for what? Not sure I have achieved anything yet! 😂
Thank you though and hello 👋 😊

KK

KajiKita

@redofromstart, @Baileys_Babe, @badmemory, you kindly suggested that I ask about *that* book here. As the FB page still hasn’t shared my post I will have to try and write it again ….

I read this book in the 1990s and I don’t think it was much older than that, 1980s at oldest. 

I suspect it was published In Australia as it was set there (how I came to have a copy I have no idea! Possibly a present from visiting academic friend of my parents perhaps?) 
it was about a teenage girl and her much younger brother. 

She had lots of long thick wiry black hair. 

The (single?) mother didn’t seem to be in focus much in the story. 

The brother got ‘caught’ by some kind of personified entity so although the younger brother was physically present he was slowly dying - the PE was sucking his soul dry.
only the girl knew what had happened to her brother and she realised that she was the only who could see the ‘mark’ on him from what had happened to him.
she fell in with two older witches who she met through a slightly older boy at school who was a warlock. They helped her understand that she was also a nascent witch. 

They helped her set up a trick where she would disconnect the PE from her brother and hopefully he would recover ….
I think her surname was Chance (recurring theme).
It was very much a coming of age story. 

Anybody got *any* ideas how I could start looking for this book? 🤷‍♀️😊

KK

SandyShores

Possibly this one called The Changeover by Margaret Mahy: https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/margaret-mahy/changeover/9781510105058

Although it looks likes she has written others, this is what it says in the summary on web:

'A clammy hand pressed Laura down onto her knees beside Jacko's bed. It was the hand of terror, nothing less.'

It was a warning. Laura felt it when she looked in the mirror that morning. There had been others: the day her father left home, the day she met Sorensen - the boy with the strange silver eyes.

But nothing had prepared Laura for the horror of today. And now her little brother, Jacko, was fighting for his life after being sucked dry of his youth by the sinister Carmody Braque.

Laura knows there is only one way to save Jacko; she must join Sorensen and use his supernatural powers to change over if there is to be any hope for her little brother.'

KajiKita

SandyShores said:

Possibly this one called The Changeover by Margaret Mahy: https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/margaret-mahy/changeover/9781510105058

Although it looks likes she has written others, this is what it says in the summary on web:

'A clammy hand pressed Laura down onto her knees beside Jacko's bed. It was the hand of terror, nothing less.'

It was a warning. Laura felt it when she looked in the mirror that morning. There had been others: the day her father left home, the day she met Sorensen - the boy with the strange silver eyes.

But nothing had prepared Laura for the horror of today. And now her little brother, Jacko, was fighting for his life after being sucked dry of his youth by the sinister Carmody Braque.

Laura knows there is only one way to save Jacko; she must join Sorensen and use his supernatural powers to change over if there is to be any hope for her little brother.'

You are AMAZING!!! Exactly that one!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
How????? 😊

KK

KajiKita

Ordered ….! 😊

KK

MissRikkiC

Firstly I’m amazed that someone found it. Well done @SandyShores but also that you were able to remember so much about it. I have SUCH a bad memory and couldn’t do that. 

MissRikkiC

Firstly I’m amazed that someone found it. Well done @SandyShores but also that you were able to remember so much about it. I have SUCH a bad memory and couldn’t do that. 

KajiKita

MissRikkiC said:

Firstly I’m amazed that someone found it. Well done @SandyShores but also that you were able to remember so much about it. I have SUCH a bad memory and couldn’t do that. 

I read it several times and it is such a powerful story it stayed with me 😊 Hence why I want to re-read it 😊

KK

SandyShores

KajiKita said:

SandyShores said:

Possibly this one called The Changeover by Margaret Mahy: https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/margaret-mahy/changeover/9781510105058

You are AMAZING!!! Exactly that one!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
How????? 😊

KK

The power of G00gle and an excellent description from yourself.  It honestly took just a few minutes.  I typed in a few key words and it brought me to a page which seemed to have the book with a girl with dark fluffy hair on the front but with a title in a different language, but it had picked up on the words in the reviews.  So I then searched for that author I think, with the key words and I could see from the description that if it wasn't that book it was very similar.  And you said the family were called Chance I think, and they were called Chant - easy mistake to make after so many years, but on the other hand you have an amazing memory.   Glad to be of help

edit: I just checked my search history and I had put in 'Australian novel girl brother witches chance'.  That brought up a book called Noitavaellus by Margaret Mahy - strange language in the description but the cover was of a girl with dark wild hair.  So I searched Margaret Mahy books and this was the first one that popped up.