Fire Exit

May 27, 2024
Talty follows up Night of the Living Rez with a moving if muted novel about a middle-aged white man yearning to tell his birth daughter, who was raised on the Penobscot Reservation, that he’s her father. Charles Lamosway grew up on the reservation, too, and lived there until 1983, when he turned 18 and had to leave because he had no blood ties to the tribe. His mother, Louise, was allowed to remain on the reservation with his Penobscot stepfather, who helped Charles build a house across the river, where he slipped into alcoholism. In 1991, Charles unexpectedly had a daughter with his Penobscot friend Mary. After she married a Penobscot man named Roger, the couple and Charles agreed to put Roger’s name on the birth certificate, so the girl, Elizabeth, could be a citizen of the tribe. Now, Charles, who’s been sober for more than 20 years, wonders if revealing the truth to Elizabeth might enrich her life and his own. The central tension—will Charles tell Elizabeth or won’t he—is set up early and doesn’t fully develop, but there are plenty of touching moments, such as a brief meeting between Charles and Elizabeth before she’s old enough to remember. This has the humanity of Talty’s promising debut, but it doesn’t quite reach the same heights. Agent: Rebecca Friedman, Rebecca Friedman Literary.