Fire Exit by Morgan Talty argues that we are all entitled to know our past, even if the truth is disorienting. Learning the whole story may fill in missing parts or provoke unasked questions. In Fire Exit, the issue is especially fraught because it deals with identity, namely the right to claim Native American identity if, lurking unbeknownst to a child raised as a full Indian, is a father’s non-native identity. Charles, the protagonist, was raised on the Penobscot reservation by his non-native mother and Indian stepfather with full knowledge of his story. He feels his daughter, conceived with his high school Penobscot girlfriend and now fully grown, is entitled to hers. The girl’s mother and indigenous husband, who raised the girl as his own, object. Entangled in Charles’s urge to tell his daughter her blood story is that his own mother’s memory is growing porous with Alzheimer’s. Moreover, he’s plagued by guilt that preoccupation with the girls’ birth kept him from preventing his stepfather’s death decades earlier. Fire Exit is replete with grief, remorse, mental illness, alcoholism, and death. Yet, the novel is not wholly bleak and morbid. On the contrary, Talty’s ineradicable faith in filial devotion and commitment to personal history is ultimately uplifting. As a writer myself (see my Amazon author page www.amazon.com/author/asewovenwords), I admire his refusal to shy away from difficult subjects with debatable answers. Fire Exit will make readers question their own stories. Warning: The choice not to know the truth comes at a price.
$14.99 with 48 percent savings
Digital List Price: $28.95 
The Digital List Price is the suggested price provided by the publisher for the eBook format.
Learn more
Learn more
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start over
From the Publisher
Product Videos
About the author
Masterfully written book of the summer!
Fire Exit is a masterfully written novel that kept me turning page after page. Morgan Talty artfully captures the complicated relationships between family members. The intertwining storylines are sewn together in a way that would make the main character, Charles, proud, as Charles himself attempts to weave stories of his own. I had high expectations for Fire Exit because I loved Talty’s book of short stories (Night of the Living Rez) and his contribution to Never Whistle at Night (The Prepper), and it did not disappoint. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read this summer!
