Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fire Exit | 2024 | Morgan Talty | Buy |
Fire Exit (2024) is Morgan Talty’s debut novel, following Night of the Living Rez. The book centers on Charles Lamosway, a Penobscot man who knows he has a daughter growing up just across the river but has never been able to be part of her life. The setup creates a sustained, quiet tension that Talty maintains throughout the novel, exploring fatherhood, secrecy, and the limits of what we owe each other.
Talty brings the same attention to place and community that made his story collection so effective. The Penobscot River is both a physical barrier and a metaphor in the novel, separating Charles from the life he might have had. The book deepens Talty’s exploration of how Indigenous communities hold together under pressure, adding a longer narrative arc to the themes he established in his shorter fiction.