White Is for Witching

The narrator shifts to Eliot, who discusses his plans now that Cambridge isn’t an option. Applying to different media and film companies, Eliot decides to accept a post anywhere English is spoken. A few weeks later, he receives a mass of letters, most of them rejections, and texts ex-girlfriend Emma. A guest informs him that something is burning, and he finds a souffle pan on fire. After the fire is extinguished, Eliot spots Sade and interrogates her. She wasn’t in the kitchen, and he wants to know where she was. They briefly discuss Lily’s death.

Soon after, Eliot interviews with a media company in Cape Town, South Africa. Sade cleans the windows, hears Miranda whistle, and notes that it’s bad luck to whistle in the house—as witches invoke nameless things with whistles. She prepares food for the detainees at the Immigration Removal Center, as Miranda overhears the Black couple interested in English history. The wife begins to choke on an apple before her coughing ends. At that moment, Jalil rings the doorbell, offering Miranda sunflowers. She thanks him and closes the door.

The South African production company offers Eliot an internship on a Monday, and Miranda stays home that day, confessing to Eliot that Tijana’s group scares her. After Eliot returns from lunch, he confronts Tijana and shows her cousin a picture of Miranda. Agim admits that Miranda didn’t attack him, but Tijana isn’t convinced. Eliot threatens to call the police if they bother Miranda again.

At the Immigration Removal Center, a crowd greets Sade and Miranda. Protesters block the entrance and carry signs because an inmate has died by suicide.

After the inmate’s death is revealed, the remainder of the chapter focuses on Anna and Dover’s history of xenophobia. The narrator notes that Anna didn’t want to wear white, afraid she wouldn’t be able to keep her clothes clean. She was baptized in white and at school, was chosen to dress like Britannia (a goddess who personifies English national identity)—dressed in white with a blue sash and bronze helmet, held aloft in a chariot formed from the bodies of other girls. Her patriotism conflicts with granddaughter Lily’s embarrassment over it.

The house then describes Anna’s introduction to Andrew Silver, her future husband, noting she wasn’t wearing white when they meet, but a cream-colored dress. The scion of an American merchant family, Andrew was rich and educated in England. Four years later, Anna marries Andrew, who became a pilot who flies over North Africa attacking Germans, when she receives a telegram of his death in the war. Worried that the pregnant Anna will die by suicide, the house protects her and her grief-fueled curses against German and African soldiers, whom she blames for her husband’s death.

The narrator cuts back to the present, describing Sade and her feelings after the inmate’s death. Echoing Anna, Sade suddenly exclaims she hates those who maintain the Immigrant Removal Center and even Miranda herself. June comes, and Miranda and Eliot study for their exams, as Sade knits a white fabric in the garden. Sade doesn’t know what she’s knitting or what form it will take. Miranda promises to knit Eliot a scarf for his time in South Africa and decides to knit a coat for herself. She and Sade travel to London, where Miranda buys fabric for her black coat with a colorful lining, and Sade buys fancy silver shoes. Miranda also buys an old mannequin, originally white but now covered in grime, which lacks a face and curves. She notes it resembles her.

Agim, Tijana’s cousin, dies and his death is recorded in The Dover Post. Miranda hears the news and wanders out to the garden, falling asleep in a hammock. She’s awakened by Anna, who encourages her to eat. She walks through the garden, through the smells and sounds of bombing to a trap door, where she sees a table set by Lily. Mother and daughter hug, and Miranda sees Anna and Jennifer seated next to each other, wearing corsets with mouths covered with padlocks. Lily claims responsibility and warns Miranda not to say anything, because a fifth unseen person is present. Miranda finds herself back at the hammock and sees Luc asleep next to her in a chair. He thinks she’s different and quizzes her, asking for her birthday. She can’t remember the year and brushes aside his concerns.

By the end of August, Eliot’s scarf is finished, and as Eliot and Miranda swim, they discuss the inmate’s earlier suicide and The Dover Post. Noting the public’s lack of comment or letters, Eliot condemns the racist silence. At the end of September, Eliot needs to leave for the airport and the Silvers drive to the airport. The house springs into action, animating Miranda’s mannequin toward Sade in the garden. Sade freezes at the sight, taking a bite of the poisoned apple that the mannequin offers her. Distracted by its success, the house loses its hold on a Black couple who have been sickened by it. They immediately leave the house.