Fire Exit

From the award-winning author of Night of the Living Rez, Morgan Talty's debut novel, Fire Exit, is a masterful and unforgettable story of family, legacy, bloodlines, culture, and inheritance, and what, if anything, we owe one another.

From the porch of his home, Charles Lamosway has watched the life he might have had unfold across the river on Maine's Penobscot Reservation. He caught brief moments of his neighbour Elizabeth's life - from the day she came home from the hospital to her early twenties. But there's something deeper and more dangerous than the river that divides him from her and the rest of the tribal community. It's the secret that Elizabeth is his daughter, a secret Charles is no longer willing to keep.

Now, it's been weeks since he's seen Elizabeth, and Charles is worried. As he attempts to hold on to and care for what he can - his home and property; his alcoholic and bighearted friend Bobby; and his mother, Louise, who is slipping deeper into dementia - he becomes increasingly haunted by his past. Forced to confront a lost childhood on the reservation, a love affair cut short, and the death of his beloved stepfather, Fredrick, Charles contends with questions he's long been afraid to ask. Is his secret about Elizabeth his to share? And would his daughter want to know the truth, even if it could cost her everything she's ever known?

"With its scrupulous reflection of wounded, dogged humanity, Fire Exit reminds us of why we still look to fiction for something beyond diversion and entertainment. This is soul food. For all its thwarted hopes, ceaseless yearning, and mortal mess, here is an act of imaginative solidarity to admire and be grateful for. I loved this book."
-Tim Winton

"Talty's characters are richly drawn, but it is Charles who lingers with us ... Humorous strands are threaded through the narrative, often involving Bobby's drunken antics. Charles is a flawed and vulnerable character, but one you can't help rooting for throughout this humane, beautifully crafted novel."
-Lucy Popescu, The Guardian

"A follow-up to Talty's award-winning short story collection Night of the Living Rez, Fire Exit untangles Charles' history, lineage, and heartache while asking larger questions about the impact of white colonialism on Indigenous identity. The result is a tender and unwavering look at the experience of a community that attempts to grapple with its painful past - and its future."
-Rachel Sonis, TIME, 'The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024'