Angela Johnson’s Heaven (1998), the first installment in the series of the same name, is a young adult novel that follows the story of Marley, a 14-year-old girl whose idyllic life in the small town of Heaven, Ohio, is disrupted by the revelation that the couple she thought were her birth parents actually adopted her after her biological mother died and her biological father left her behind for a life on the road. 

Heaven explores themes of identity, belonging, and the meaning of family. Johnson’s lyrical prose is rich with emotional depth and illustrates the impact of secrets and the power of love and community support. The novel has been honored with the 1999 Coretta Scott King Award for fiction.

This guide refers to the 2013 Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers edition.

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide contain descriptions of racist violence and self-harm.

Plot Summary

Fourteen-year-old Marley lives with her Momma, Pops, and brother Butchy in the small town of Heaven, Ohio. Marley goes to the Western Union in town frequently to wire money to her Uncle Jack, who travels around the country in a truck, living a nomadic lifestyle with his dog, Boy. Marley has not seen Uncle Jack in years but corresponds with him through letters. In a retrospective moment, Marley explains that growing up in Heaven was enjoyable until she learned a life-changing family secret: Uncle Jack is her biological father. Pops, Uncle Jack’s twin, adopted her when she was a baby.

The early chapters introduce the important people in Marley’s life; her family, and her friends, Shoogy and Bobby. Shoogy is a troubled girl who feels that she does not fit in with her family because she believes them to be perfect. Sixteen-year-old Bobby is a painter who recently moved to Heaven from Brooklyn, New York, with his baby daughter, Feather. Marley begins babysitting Feather after responding to an ad that Bobby put in Ma’s Superette, the local general store. Watching Bobby and Feather’s close relationship reminds Marley of her own closeness with Pops. Both of her friends have secrets, but Marley does not ask them about their pasts, knowing that sometimes people move to start life anew.

Interspersed throughout the text are epistolary chapters in the form of letters from Uncle Jack. He tells Marley in May that he has been thinking about settling down somewhere. He hints that he may one day show up in Heaven to surprise Marley and her family.

Leading up to the revelation about Marley’s biological parents, a series of racist attacks involving arson affect several churches in the American South. One of the affected churches in Alabama is one that Pops and Marley attended years ago. Soon after the church burning, Momma and Pops receive a letter from Alabama, addressed to someone named Monna Floyd. The letter upsets her parents, although Marley does not understand why. 

A tornado approaches Heaven. The storm outside mirrors the unsettled mood in Marley’s house as she and her parents go down into the basement. During the storm, Pops and Momma reveal that Uncle Jack is Marley’s biological father, and that her biological mother, Christine, is dead. The letter from Alabama was from a Mr. Major, requesting a photocopy of the baptismal certificate of Pops and Momma’s niece, Monna Floyd (Marley). This news shatters Marley’s sense of identity. Momma and Pops apologize to Marley and admit that they should have told her sooner.

In the next few weeks, Marley tries to process this news. Her relationship with her family suffers, and she struggles to talk to Momma, who was once a trusted confidant. Despite her anger toward her parents, she yearns for childhood memories in which Pops comforts her after a scary dream. Her perception of Uncle Jack’s letters changes as well when he recalls a memory of taking a baby to the beach; now, Marley understands that the baby is her.

Marley feels that she knows nothing about herself, so she begins to learn more about Shoogy’s past. She tells Shoogy about her parents, and Shoogy tells her that she used to perform in pageants but had a panic attack during one of them, at age six, after which she stopped performing. However, her anxiety persisted, and Shoogy began self-harming to cope with her emotions. She also distanced herself from her parents. Marley identifies with Shoogy’s sense of anxiety; Marley’s own anxiety worsens when she thinks about Uncle Jack. Shoogy asks Marley what she wants to do now that she knows the truth, and Marley admits that she is angry at everyone, including Uncle Jack, for lying to her.

Momma and Pops attempt to reach out to Marley while giving her space, leaving a box of her baby items at the foot of her bed one night while she sleeps. Marley sleeps late to avoid her family because her anger flares when she is around them. She struggles with the fact that, even now, they have left out important parts of the story, such as why Uncle Jack left her and how Christine died. Marley does not open the box; instead, she takes it downstairs to the kitchen. Butchy asks her what the box contains, and the siblings discuss Marley’s feelings. She admits that while she still loves him, she struggles with the knowledge that he is not her biological brother. Butchy tells her that he will always consider her his sister.

Marley contemplates throwing the box away altogether, thinking that if she does, everything will go back to the way it was. Bobby reminds her not to dismiss her adopted parents altogether. Shoogy comes over to Marley’s house and they admire the glow-in-the-dark stars that Pops puts up every year on Marley’s ceiling. The stars remind Marley of the love she still has for her family. With Shoogy’s support, Marley decides to open the box. She finds baby clothes and a hospital bracelet with both “Monna Floyd” and “Christine Floyd” written on it. Shoogy and Marley fall asleep, and when they wake, Marley sees that Momma has covered them both with blankets. Marley is still holding the hospital bracelet.

Marley writes a letter to Uncle Jack, asking if he still thinks of her as his daughter, but then she rips it up. She stops going to the Western Union to send him money; Butchy starts going instead. He asks Pops why they are able to send Uncle Jack so much money, and Pops reveals that Christine died in a car accident and the car company was at fault. Uncle Jack received a large settlement and asked Pops to keep the money in a trust for him, wiring him small amounts at a time. After learning this, Marley revisits the contents of her baby box and reads a love letter that Christine wrote to Uncle Jack. She begins carrying this letter around with her.

Before leaving for their weekly Sunday drive, Marley realizes that she has lost Christine’s letter. She breaks down sobbing, and Momma comforts her on the living room floor. She cries so much that she falls asleep, and when she wakes up, she sees her family looking for the letter. Uncle Jack writes to Marley, asking if she would like to see him in person. He tells her that he understands that her life has drastically changed since learning the truth. He reassures her that he will never try to replace her parents, who love her as much as he does. Marley responds only by writing that she has lost the letter from Christine. After returning home from babysitting, Marley finds Momma sitting on the porch, holding the letter from Christine, which she found in the yard. Momma tells Marley that she loved Christine, and they sit together on the porch.

Uncle Jack finally visits Heaven, and Marley shows him the sights, including the Western Union. As she does so, she realizes that she no longer hurts as much as she once did. Uncle Jack joins them for dinner, and as everyone sits together, Marley realizes that these people are her family regardless of their biological relationship to her. That night, Marley dreams about her birth mother, Christine, and wishes that she could tell the woman all the things she has learned about herself. Most of all, she wishes she could tell Christine that she still loves her life in Heaven.