Fire Exit

Susan Midalia's Review 

Morgan Talty, a native American Indian married to a white woman, learned in the process of researching American Indian law that his mixed-race son would not be allowed to enrol in Talty’s tribe. He drew on this discovery to write his moving debut novel Fire Exit. His main character and narrator Charles Lamosway is a white man raised, as Talty was, in the Penobobscot community in Maine. When Charles is forced under tribal law to leave his biological daughter Elizabeth, he becomes torn between wanting a close relationship with her and the knowledge that if he does so, he risks her being excluded from her American Indian community. As well as exploring this personal, anguishing dilemma, the novel also questions the justice of a law which defines identity in terms of blood ties, and which in itself is a destructive legacy of white colonial power.

What distinguishes the novel above all is a haunting sense of absence. Charles can only watch his daughter grow up from across the river: he can see her, but cannot reach her, both literally and metaphorically. He also struggles to care for his mother, Louise, whose dementia erases him from her memory. As well, the absence of Charles’s beloved stepfather Frederick, who raised him in the reservation, makes Charles vulnerable to losing his strong sense of native identity. Using a blend of sorrow, understated humour, quiet reflection and emotional intensity, Talty has created a range of compelling characters whose stories will stay with you long after you have finished the book.

While Fire Exit deals with the specifics of native American experience, it also raises questions of universal relevance about the issue of identity and the experiences of guilt, loss and our obligation to others. It asks us to consider whether identity is genetic, social or cultural, and who has the power to decide. It explores the ways in which secrets can shape who we become. Written in spare but evocative prose, Fire Exit has been acclaimed by critics and readers for its compassionate vision and ethical complexity. Highly recommended; available now in the Lane Bookshop.

Publisher's Review 

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

'Remarkable.' - NPR