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Charles Lamosway, the main character in “Fire Exit,” by Morgan Talty, has never felt like he belonged anywhere. Now, nearing middle age, single and living a mostly solitary life, he still feels that way. Sometimes, when he is needed, he goes away from home for a few days to clear land for a business. Mostly, he spends his days sitting in a lawn chair on his dirt driveway watching the house on the reservation across the Penobscot River in Maine.
His daughter Elizabeth lived there. Now she lives in a house closer to town and teaches at a nearby school, but he still watches for her to return to her childhood house for a visit with her parents. Elizabeth doesn’t know that Charles is her father.
Charles feels it is time to change that. When his girlfriend Mary, Elizabeth’s mother, found out she was pregnant over 20 years ago, she left Charles and married Roger, a member of the Penobscot tribe—the same tribe Mary belonged to. Mary felt it was important for her daughter to be brought up on the reservation to acquire the traditions and to honor the heritage of the proud nation. Now Charles wants Elizabeth to know of her legacy in the white world.
Charles, himself, was brought up on the reservation after his white mother married Frederick, his stepfather, and a Penobscot Native American. When Frederick died, reservation rules forbade Charles from staying on the reservation when he grew up. Before Frederick died, he built Charles a small house that happened to overlook the home of his daughter. No one but Mary and Charles know of Elizabeth’s true heritage.
When Charles sees that Elizabeth, now in her mid-20s, has moved back home, he is alarmed. Charles and his mother inadvertently run into Elizabeth and her mother at a local medical treatment facility. Charles learns that Elizabeth has inherited a crippling medical condition that has plagued his mother all her life.
In this character-centered novel, the author has created a picture of a tender protagonist that I won’t forget. This quiet novel is replete with themes of identity, grief and goodness. With loyalty, caring, and love, Charles seeks to live his best life with little regard to his own needs.
Tragedy brings forces together in a tension-filled climax. Readers will root for Charles as he navigates and accepts things as they happen. He is the iconic “everyman” and we are on his side.
About the author: Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Nation. He lives in Maine. His collection of short stories “Night of the Living Rez” has won many awards.
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