This striking début novel of cultural inheritance and painful family bonds follows a man living across the river from Maine’s Penobscot reservation, where he was raised by his white mother and Native stepfather, and where he lived until he was effectively evicted by a law that tied residency to official tribal status.

Are we our stories, and what happens when we begin to lose them? These are some of the questions Morgan Talty explores in Fire Exit with alternate turns of blunt force reality and soothing, poetic beauty.

“…[F]or Indigenous Americans, the question of lineage, of bloodline, of blood quantum is an ever-present question with its own legal ramifications. It's something explored in the acclaimed debut novel by Morgan Talty, called Fire Exit.

Fire Exit is a melancholy but quietly powerful story about taking care of your tribe, however you find them.

Talty joined us live to talk about Native American identity and his work, the process of writing novels and short form fiction, the importance and impact of storytelling and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over.

Where to read it: In a forest along the East Coast—specifically Maine, if you can swing it.

Fire Exit, the lacerating debut novel by Morgan Talty, whose story set Night of the Living Rez was a 2022 critical smash, delves again into the families in a Native American community, for a tale of a man haunted by descendants present and just out of reach.

At once a touching narrative about family and a gritty story about alcoholism, dementia, and longing, Fire Exit is a novel in which past and present are constantly on the page as we follow a man's life — while it also entertains what that life could have been.

My son and I bleed the same color, but I’m Penobscot and he’s not. That’s because of blood quantum, a legal measure that affects our political and social rights. But there’s another way to live—and another way to understand our identity.

After stunning readers two years ago with his story collection “Night of the Living Rez,” Morgan Talty returns with “Fire Exit,” his debut novel.

Morgan Talty, author of the acclaimed short story collection Night of the Living Rez, returns with a debut novel about families and legacies. Charles Lamosway lives across the river from Maine’s Penobscot Reservation, separated from his past by painful secrets. Who gets to know the truth? Who gets to tell it?

“A gorgeous and all-consuming novel, Fire Exit lays bare the consequences of one man’s decisions, and his resolve to reconcile his past by taking care of his aging mother and seeking a connection with his unknown daughter. Unforgettable.”

—Olivia Marchese, Author's Note, Medina, NY

After winning widespread acclaim for Night of the Living Rez, his debut collection of short stories, Talty is back with a first novel that cements his status as a writer to watch.

“This is a book to be devoured, not read.” — Melissa Sagendorph, Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts

In this deliberately paced, moody novel, Talty, himself a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, considers questions of identity, as Charles observes that “I knew and still know what it was like to both not belong and belong…”

Talty, whose gritty story collection Night of the Living Rez was garlanded with awards, weighs the concept of blood quantum—a measure that federally recognized tribes often use to determine Indigenous membership—in his debut novel.

The author of Wandering Stars goes deep with Esquire on addiction, telling true stories through fiction, and writing against "literary tourism."

“Fire Exit, [Talty’s] first novel, explores blood quantum, inheritance, and belonging from the perspective of a white man whose Native girlfriend decides to name a different man as their daughter’s father so she can be enrolled in the Penobscot Nation.

“…Morgan Talty returns with his debut novel that absolutely soars.”