Fire Exit
A novel
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"Fire Exit, Morgan Talty's debut novel, is utterly consuming. The novel absolutely smolders." --Tommy Orange
*Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
Does she remember this day? Does she remember it at all? Does she know this history--this story--her body holds secret from her?
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. On the far bank, he caught brief moments of Roger and Mary raising their only child, Elizabeth--from the day she came home from the hospital to her early twenties. But there's always been something deeper and more dangerous than the river that divides him from this family 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 and care for what he can: his home and property, his alcoholic, quick-tempered and big-hearted friend Bobby, and his mother, Louise, who is slipping ever-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, in a hunting accident--a death that he and Louise cannot agree where to lay the blame--Charles contends with questions he's long been afraid to ask. Is it his secret to share? And would his daughter want to know the truth?
From 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.
About this Author
MORGAN TALTY is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation. His debut short story collection, Night of the Living Rez, won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, the American Academy of Arts & Letters Sue Kaufman Prize, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the New England Book Award, the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Honor, and was a Finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the 2023 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Prize, and The Story Prize. His writing has appeared in The Georgia Review, Granta, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. Talty is an assistant professor of English in Creative Writing and Native American and Contemporary Literature at the University of Maine, Orono, and he is on the faculty at the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing as well as the Institute of American Indian Arts. He lives in Levant, Maine.
Reviews
"Spellbinding. . . . a compassionate portrait of a man who is desperate to understand who he is and where he came from." --TIME, A Best Book of Summer
"[Fire Exit] does not shy away from blistering questions of belonging and identity, but rather leans into them, in taut, often precise prose." --The New York Times Book Review, A Best Book of June
"Gripping. . . . A thoughtful, heartfelt exploration of what it means to be part of a family and a community." --Associated Press
"An undeniable classic." --Chicago Review of Books, A Best Book of June
"Tender and heartbreaking. . . . sweetened with touches of humor, the novel raises important questions about human connection and belonging." --Booklist, Starred Review
"Utterly absorbing. . . . compassionately addresses tough choices in matters of family and love." --Shelf Awareness
"Remarkable. . . . An outstanding new voice with a lot to say." --NPR
"Lacerating." --Chicago Tribune, A Best Book of Summer
"An undeniable classic." --Chicago Review of Books, A Best Book of June
"In this deliberately paced, moody novel, Talty, himself a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, considers questions of identity." --Kirkus Reviews
"Exquisite. . . . Talty's novel . . . reveals a dexterity with the form and unflagging affection for his characters. . . . [Fire Exit] teases out themes [of] the twinned scourges of poverty and booze; emotional warfare between generations; the quiet rage that pulses amid Indigenous communities. . . . Soulful and assured." --Star Tribune
"Poignant. . . . Gripping. . . . A thoughtful, heartfelt exploration of what it means to be a part of a family and a community." --Pique Magazine
"Tender and heartbreaking. . . . sweetened with touches of humor, the novel raises important questions about human connection and belonging." --Booklist, Starred Review
"Absolutely soars. . . . you will come out of this book better than you were going in." --Barnes & Noble, A Most Anticipated Debut of 2024
"Cements his status as a writer to watch." --Harper's Bazaar
"Beautifully written, sometimes funny, often heartbreaking and hopeful against all odds. Reminiscent of the work of Raymond Carver." --BookPage
"Immersive, thought-provoking. . . . Talty doesn't miss a step in switching from short stories to a novel, and there's no sophomore slump in this second book; indeed, Fire Exit cements his reputation as one of our best young writers." --Portland Press Herald
"Original. . . . Irresistible. . . . Fire Exit is one of those books that will become more meaningful with the days, weeks, and months after closing the cover." --Independent Book Review
"Fire Exit, Morgan Talty's debut novel, is utterly consuming. With this book, Talty more than fulfills the promise of his glorious short story collection, Night of the Living Rez. The storytelling is both spellbinding and quietly devastating. The novel is ultimately about family and belonging, about the stories we need to know even when they threaten to burn our lives down. A father desperately wants to let his daughter know about her body's secret history, even while his mother forgets her son altogether. This book is filled with humor, and humanity's strange wonder at its own desperation and depravity, as only Talty can do, with his subtle charm and crystalline prose, his sober reckoning with what love can and cannot do, what healing is and is not possible in our families. The novel absolutely smolders." --Tommy Orange
"Fire Exit is gorgeous. A genuinely original examination of the costs we pay to tell ourselves certain stories about who we are and where we come from. Talty is a revelation on matters of the heart, particularly the tenderness and warfare of contemporary manhood. This is that rare thing: a frankly honest novel about hard things written without a trace of bitterness. I loved it." --Brandon Taylor
"Talty's writings feels to me like a gift of many lifetimes. Forgiveness, Morgan shows us, is also the work of a lifetime. The people to whom we feel closest can somehow be right beside us in the kitchen and simultaneously on some unreachably distant planet. People rotate away from each other for days or seasons at a time, and it's miraculous when they return to find each other again, turning towards each other instead of away. It's a treacherous thing, to love another person in this world that mixes so much beauty with so much sorrow. Thank you for reminding us, Morgan, that it is the necessary thing." --Karen Russell
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