Dèy

Set in Miami in January 2018, the novel follows Magnolia Elie, a 32-year-old Haitian-American real estate agent and mother, as she survives a mass shooting and contends with its aftermath alongside her parents' deteriorating situation in Haiti, her fractured relationship, and questions of home and belonging.

Magnolia is at the Hibiscus Mall to buy a cell phone for her daughter Zoë's upcoming 10th birthday when gunfire erupts on the third floor. She dives to the floor of Oasis, a Caribbean-fusion restaurant, where about 40 people shelter in place. Angela King-Robinson, a restaurant worker, takes charge, invoking the active-shooter protocol of "run, hide, fight." Her partner, Kaleb Robinson, Oasis's co-owner, also helps manage the crisis. Smoke seeps under the door as gunfire continues below. Eventually, SWAT officers escort everyone out. Magnolia walks barefoot to her car, having lost her flip-flops, and drives away without being questioned. She resolves that this experience is only hers if she chooses to claim it.

Harrison Boncy, Zoë's father, has been frantically calling. He and Magnolia are in a trial separation she initiated as she approaches her 33rd birthday, the age traditionally associated with Jesus's crucifixion, which she calls her "Jesus year." She tells him she is fine and conceals the truth from him and from Caroline, Harrison's cousin and her boss at a North Miami brokerage. Magnolia throws herself into work, pursuing a sale on a Brickell condo.

Meanwhile, Magnolia's father, Daniel (Papa), calls from Haiti to say her mother, Louise, has appendicitis and needs surgery. Victor, Magnolia's half-brother and the son of Papa and a woman named Béatrice, is helping care for both parents at their home in Croix-des-Bouquets. Victor warns that the San Manman, a gang whose name means "Motherless," is expanding into the area with raids, kidnappings, and mass violence. Louise, who has had a mental health condition since girlhood that causes her to hear voices and sleepwalk, recently wandered from the house and was found by neighbors. Victor fears she could be kidnapped and urges Magnolia to convince their parents to return to the United States.

Magnolia's history emerges through memory. She grew up in a cramped Brooklyn apartment, sharing a room with Tante Odile, a woman taken in by the family whose own relatives were killed during the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti. Tante Odile became Magnolia's caretaker. Louise never knew her biological parents; she was placed as a baby with Papa's family by a powerful general. She and Papa grew up together on a farm in Thomazeau, then emigrated to New York with fabricated documents.

Magnolia and Harrison's relationship carries its own wounds. They met at a pre-graduation party at the State University of New York at Albany, bonded over shared Haitian heritage, and moved in together after her housing fell through. She became pregnant shortly after. Harrison, reeling from his father's recent death, told her they should break up. Though he reversed course once Zoë was born, Magnolia never forgot. Years later, she asked him to move out because she wanted to understand who she might be without him. He agreed, provided they share equal time with Zoë.

In the days after the shooting, Magnolia follows the victims' stories through news coverage. Four people die, including the shooter, a 21-year-old white man whose manifesto espouses white-supremacist ideology. Jaden "Duke" Kingsley, a 17-year-old quarterback, dies overnight from his wounds. The other victims are Yeriel Ramon Cruz, an 80-year-old Cuban-born widower; Jonathan Augustin, a 29-year-old Haitian security guard who had journeyed through Brazil, Chile, and the Darién Gap, a roadless jungle corridor between Colombia and Panama, to reach the United States; and Naomi Mills, a 26-year-old graduate student who sold wigs at a mall kiosk.

Magnolia begins showing symptoms of trauma. At a party-supply store, she scans shoppers for weapons and flees. At Zoë's birthday party, Caroline picks up a water gun shaped like an assault rifle and playfully shoots Magnolia in the chest. Magnolia screams uncontrollably, seeing the water turn to blood. Harrison witnesses the breakdown and quietly removes all the toy guns.

Magnolia attends Duke's candlelight vigil and watches Naomi's funeral on television, where Naomi's father says she has "taken flight." Victor reports that the San Manman have destroyed his university and made it impossible for their parents to stay. He is shot at on a public bus. The parents plan to fly to Fort Lauderdale.

At a Little Haiti bookstore, Zoë buys a Chaloska carnival mask, a papier-mâché face modeled after a Haitian military officer who ordered a massacre in 1915. That evening, Magnolia finally tells Harrison she was at the mall. He is stunned, asking how little she trusts him. She describes seeing the shooter step off the elevator, their bodies nearly touching, running up the escalator, diving into Oasis. He connects the revelation to the water guns. They embrace.

On Valentine's Day, also Ash Wednesday, Magnolia's parents arrive from Haiti. Victor surprises everyone by joining them, having obtained a visa months earlier. That same afternoon, a shooting unfolds at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, less than an hour away. Seventeen students and three staff members are killed.

The family settles into Magnolia's house. Papa reveals he fell in love with Béatrice after meeting her in a paint store, calling Tante Odile Magnolia's guardian angel and Béatrice his own. Victor reveals that a gangster wants their parents' house and that the San Manman have seized the family's old farm. He intends to return nonetheless. Tante Odile arrives from Brooklyn. Harrison reveals that Zoë, coached by his mother, Marie Jeanne Boncy (Madame), has been secretly throwing a love potion at both parents. Magnolia laughs deeply for the first time since the shooting.

Magnolia returns to the mall, visits Oasis, and tells Kaleb she was there during the shooting. Angela emerges from the kitchen and recognizes her. Later, at a family lunch, Magnolia collapses. Harrison stays at her bedside, and they have their most honest conversation in years. That night, Magnolia overhears her mother telling Tante Odile that Tante Odile truly raised Magnolia. She slides into the bed between them, and at midnight they wish her happy birthday.

On her 33rd birthday, Magnolia attends Jonathan Augustin's funeral at Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church. His family in Haiti could not obtain visas. The mall's CEO reveals that the shooter carried a map with a red circle around Oasis. Jonathan had tackled the shooter as he switched weapons, buying others time to escape before being shot in the chest. The scream Magnolia heard from inside Oasis was Jonathan dying. The Robinsons stand at the exit dressed in white, bearing the dèy blan, the white funeral attire Jonathan's absent mother would have worn.

At home, the family celebrates Magnolia's birthday. Harrison and Zoë give her rhinestone sandals to replace the flip-flops she lost at the mall. Magnolia mouths "Come home" to Harrison. He replies, "I am home." The family retells the story of Magnolia's birth: how she did not breathe at first, and Louise cried out, "Magnolia, ou la?" (Magnolia, are you there?) until the baby screamed. Now Louise ladles soup into Magnolia's bowl last, an ofrann, an offering for whatever comes next. Framed by yellow magnolia blossoms, Louise calls out the same words: "Magnolia, ou la?" Magnolia answers, "Mwen la." I am here.