Fire Exit

Set on and around the Penobscot Reservation in Maine, Morgan Talty’s debut novel follows Charles Lamosway, a man grappling with a huge secret. For the last 20 years, he has watched his daughter Elizabeth grow up on the reservation while he lives just outside of it, across the river. Elizabeth’s mom doesn’t want Charles to have a relationship with his daughter—largely because of Blood Quantum, a controversial Colonial-era practice that determines how much Indigenous blood a person possesses in their lineage. To secure her daughter’s place on the reservation (where the author also grew up), Elizabeth’s mother marries another man from Penobscot nation who claims Elizabeth as his own. Now, Charles—burdened by his sick mother and his own past—finally feels ready to tell Elizabeth his true identity. Only, suddenly, she goes missing. A follow-up to Talty’s award-winning short story collection Night on 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.

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