White Smoke

White Smoke (2023) by Tiffany D. Jackson is a young adult fiction novel in the social horror subgenre. Protagonist Marigold moves to the Maplewood neighborhood of Cedarville, a midwestern city, with her blended family. Not only does an angry ghost appear to occupy their new house, but Marigold also discovers that Maplewood has haunting secrets of its own. Highlighting themes of The Dynamics and Challenges Within Blended Families, Community Memory and Its Generational Impact, and Using the Horror Lens to Explore and Amplify Societal Issues, White Smoke explores the courage to face one’s past and the negative outcomes of greed and gentrification. 

This guide refers to the 2021 edition by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of addiction, substance use, racism, graphic violence, mental illness, death, and sexual violence. 

Plot Summary

Just before her junior year of high school, Marigold Anderson-Green moves from her small California beach town to the midwestern city of Cedarville. She and her blended family (mother, Raquel; stepfather, Alec; brother, Sammy; and stepsister, Piper) move into a large, renovated older home on Maple Street in the Maplewood neighborhood. The Sterling Foundation, a community improvement organization, chose Raquel as the first artist-in-residence for their “Grow Where You’re Planted” initiative; in exchange for writing a book and participating in foundation activities over three years, Raquel and her family can live in the house for free.

Marigold knows that she should consider the move an opportunity for a fresh start after a series of recent traumatic events. First, a bedbug infestation in her home caused lasting anxiety. Then, she consequently formed a dependency on marijuana. Next, she became addicted to Percocet after a track injury. One night, her boyfriend, David, gave her marijuana laced with Fentanyl, from which she almost died. With rehab, therapy, anti-anxiety medication, and the support of her mother and brother, Marigold wants to start anew—but she still craves marijuana for its help in cloaking her anxieties.

The house is suspicious immediately. Contractors refuse to enter the basement, which is locked from the inside; their possessions go missing; and a terrible smell and strange sounds fill the house. Piper, who is 10, insists she met a woman, Ms. Suga, who owns the house and wants Marigold gone because of her drug use. Raquel and Alec assume Ms. Suga is an imaginary friend. Marigold denies any drug use, but feeling more anxious than ever, she starts a secret marijuana garden in an abandoned house nearby. She also meets Yusef Brown, a Maplewood resident. She rejects his advances but uses his tools and fertilizers for her marijuana garden without telling him the purpose, as he hates drugs; past harsh laws resulted in many Maplewood residents’ imprisonment for drug possession, including Yusef’s father.

At a Sterling Foundation event, Mr. Sterling, head of the foundation, announces new revitalization plans, including a new shopping district and light rail. From the schematics on display, Marigold sees that the Maplewood neighborhood will be destroyed to build this “New Cedarville” area. Later, Yusef tells Marigold that each Halloween, neighbors burn some of Maplewood’s abandoned houses to scare away vagrants and junkies, an event known as “Devil’s Night.” Meanwhile, some force in the house fakes Sammy’s voice and hits Marigold with a broom.

When Marigold mentions to Yusef that Piper’s imaginary friend is named Ms. Suga, he tells her more of Maplewood’s history: A couple named Joe and Carmen Peoples used to live in Marigold’s house. After Joe won the lottery, he bought other houses nearby for his five children; he also bought a bakery for his wife, whom neighbors then called Ms. Suga. When Joe died under strange circumstances, Carmen refused to sell the family’s houses to developers. A rumor began that one son, Jon Jon Peoples, molested children and used drugs, so a mob of neighbors set his house (next door to Marigold’s) on fire. Ms. Suga ran in to save him; the two never came out, and everyone assumed they perished. Marigold decides Ms. Suga is haunting her home. She and Sammy set up cameras to catch the ghost’s nighttime activities, but all they catch is Piper smiling.

One night, the power goes out. The family’s power resumes while the rest of the neighborhood stays dark, causing an angry group of neighbors to form. They heckle and deride Marigold for her drug addiction and Piper for her lack of friends. Yusef grows suspicious of Marigold from neighbors’ comments and, after discovering her secret marijuana garden, stops speaking with her.

Sammy has an allergic reaction to the peanut butter someone puts in his oatmeal. In the hospital, Sammy tells Marigold to check his last camera to see if Piper is the culprit. Arriving home, Raquel and Alec take their sick dog to the vet. Marigold leaves Piper in the house to take the camera to Yusef. She tells him about her previous struggles with addiction and anxiety; he relents in his anger and helps her view the recording. They are shocked by the video, which shows an elderly woman crawling out of a cabinet—Ms. Suga is alive.

Raquel calls in a panic; her words are unclear, but Marigold comprehends that she and Piper must flee the house. Marigold races home, but Piper is gone. Marigold enters the open basement to find two makeshift beds. Upstairs, she finds Jon Jon Peoples hiding. He tries to tell Marigold something, but Ms. Suga attacks Marigold. Yusef runs in and apprehends Ms. Suga, but Jon Jon escapes.

The gathered neighbors are shocked when authorities take Ms. Suga to the hospital. Mr. Sterling arrives and rallies residents into a furious mob, convincing them to hunt down Jon Jon since he can reveal their attempt to harm him years before. They begin to burn abandoned houses around Maplewood where he might be hiding. Marigold sees that the blocks have been pre-supplied with kindling and gasoline, and she realizes the Sterling Foundation wants the residents to cause their own demolition to further the foundation’s “cause” toward developing New Cedarville.

Marigold, Raquel, and Alec split up to find Piper. Marigold discovers tunnels connecting her house with the other Peoples family’s residences and finds Jon Jon hiding in her basement. He helps her find Piper in his old house, once again set on fire by the mob. Marigold and Piper escape through a window, but Jon Jon tries for the tunnels; Marigold does not know if he will make it. Back at Yusef’s house, Marigold and Piper wait to hear from their parents; Marigold renews her commitment to their blended family, telling Piper that they will support one another as sisters from now on.