The Changes Trilogy by Peter Dickinson

First published:Heartsease, 1969; The Weathermonger, 1969; The Devil’s Children, 1970; as The Changes Trilogy, 1985

Subjects: Social issues and the supernatural

Type of work: Novels

Type of plot: Science fiction

Time of work: The near future

Recommended Ages: 13-15

Locale: Southern England

Principal Characters:

• Nicola (Nicky) Gore, a young girl from London who is separated from her parents in a mass flight to France
• Ajeet, a quiet Sikh girl of Nicky’s age, with a gift for storytelling
• The grandmother, the matriarch of the Sikh group that shelters Nicky
• Kewal Singh, one of the Sikh leaders who allows Nicky into their group
• The Master, a giant of a man who rules the village of Felpham after the Changes
• Margaret, a young girl living on her uncle’s farm, a good horsewoman
• Uncle Peter, a farmer in the Cotswolds
• Aunt Anne, his repressed wife, who is on the edge of nervous breakdown
• Jonathan, the son of Peter and Anne, a clever and ingenious teenager
• Lucy, a serving girl, apparently an orphan
• Timothy, her mentally retarded brother
• Mr. Gordon, the village sexton and local witchfinder
• Otto, an American spy who is captured and stoned as a witch
• Geoffrey, an adolescent, a former weathermonger of Weymouth who is put out to drown as a witch
• Sally, his sister, whose drawings bring on her the accusation of witchcraft
• Mr. Furbelow, an apothecary who is responsible for finding Merlin and keeping him drugged

Form and Content

The Changes Trilogy consists of three separate novels depicting a seven-year span of time during which a hatred of machinery destroys modern Western civilization in Great Britain. In the chaos that ensues, various social structures emerge, all in some ways reminiscent of the Dark Ages or early medievalism. The source of the antimachine hatred is finally traced to Merlin, King Arthur’s wizard, who has been disturbed in his long underground sleep and who has been seeking to return Britain to his Arthurian age. He is sent to sleep again, and modernity reemerges.

The first novel of the trilogy, The Devil’s Children, is placed near the commencement of “the Changes,” as the antimachine hatred is called. London is abandoned, since it is full of machines, even though most of them lie smashed. Nicola Gore’s parents have fled to France with millions of others, but she has been separated from them in the panic. As previously instructed, she returns to London to await a rescue that never comes. Driven by loneliness, she joins a group of Sikhs who seem unaffected by the psychological disturbances. They use her as their “canary,” to warn them of danger from the remaining populace if the group does anything that might inflame their anger.

The group locates an abandoned farm in Hampshire. The nearby village of Felpham regards them with suspicion, calling them “The Devil’s Children.” Nicky acts as intermediary between the Sikhs and the “Master,” a huge former farmhand who has assumed feudal control of the village. A barter trade is established. The delicate balance is broken when a marauding band of robbers kills the Master and takes the village children hostage. The Sikhs rescue the children and kill or drive off the robbers. Out of this incident, a more integrated and democratic system of government for the village emerges, and its prospers.

The second novel, Heartsease, named after the wild pansies that are Aunt Anne’s favorite flower, is set a few years into the Changes, when contact between Britain and the rest of the world has ceased. An American spy, Otto, is sent to discover what is happening; he is caught and stoned as a witch—witchcraft now being defined as anything to do with machinery.

Jonathan and Margaret hear Otto still groaning under a pile of stones and decide to rescue him, as they have not been as affected by the changes as the adults. Aided by the serving girl, Lucy, and her strong but mentally retarded brother, Tim, they hide Otto on their farm and make plans to get him out of the country. They realize that their best chance is to transport him to the nearest city, Gloucester, since it is connected by canal to the Severn estuary, and to find a seaworthy boat, such as a tug. When they overhear Mr. Gordon, the local witchfinder, lining up Tim as the next witch, they realize that Lucy and Tim must leave as well.

Although still badly injured, Otto is able to direct Jonathan in restoring the engine of a suitable tugboat that they have reconnoitered. Otto, Tim, and Lucy are placed on board, but, just as Jonathan and Margaret are about to leave, their plans are discovered. In the confusion, they escape, helped by Aunt Anne, and manage to start the tug’s engines and open the canal bridges and lockgates. Their pursuers are routed by a bull that has previously chased Margaret and given her nightmares.

At the end, Margaret, with her horse Scrub, believes that she must return to her aunt and uncle, leaving the others to sail to Ireland. When she arrives at the farm, she finds that Mr. Gordon, the instigator of much trouble in the village, has been killed and that a new harmony is achieved.

The third novel of the trilogy, The Weathermonger, tells of the end of the Changes. One of the other manifestations of the supernatural has been the ability of certain individuals to control the weather. This power has brought about perfect growing conditions, helping to compensate for the primitive farming methods now employed. Geoffrey is such a “weathermonger,” although he is still a teenager. He has grown rich but also overconfident. Geoffrey has never developed antimachine hatred and he has been caught fixing his dead uncle’s boat. He and his sister, Sally, are put out to drown by the incoming tides, but Geoffrey conjures up a fog and they escape. He manages to start the boat, and, despite being pursued, they reach France.

The authorities there ask them to return to Britain, however, to investigate rumors of the “Necromancer,” who is somewhere in the Welsh hills. They agree, landing near a Motor Museum, from which they take an antique Rolls Royce. Geoffrey and Sally have numerous adventures in motoring over backroads until their automobile is destroyed by a sudden bolt of lightning as they approach the Welsh border.

They escape and take to horses, eventually tracing the source of the Necromancer. Again pursued and almost captured, they discover a mysterious forest and tower. In the tower, food magically appears for them. The only human there is Mr. Furbelow, who talks of having found Merlin, King Arthur’s wizard, and having wakened him. He is now seeking to control Merlin through morphine addiction. He has no idea of the devastation caused by the power that Merlin has released through the country.

Geoffrey and Sally finally confront Merlin for themselves and persuade him to refuse morphine, but return to sleep. As soon as this is done, the antimachine rage ceases and the country reawakens to modernity.

Critical Context

Peter Dickinson wrote for both adults and children. His children’s fiction is entirely fantasy, but the supernatural is rarely taken seriously for itself. Rather, it is a peg on which to hang an often fascinating and complex scenario, as in The Gift (1973), Annerton Pit (1977), and Tulku (1979). This is certainly true of The Changes Trilogy. A number of other children’s fantasies were published just after the trilogy, all concerning the collapse of Western civilization—reflecting, it would seem, a general pessimism about the future of the West. In the United States, one example would be Robert C. O’Brien’s Z for Zachariah (1975), which concerns survivors of a nuclear holocaust. In the United Kingdom, John Christopher’s The Guardians (1970) and The Sword of the Spirits trilogy (1972) cover similar ground. Both Christopher and Dickinson use science fiction as a fantasy mode, but Dickinson moves more toward the “uncanny” in his use of supernaturalism.