Charles, a perpetual outsider, both culturally and geographically, has spent the past twenty-seven years watching a life that could have been his. Almost obsessively he watches the house where his daughter lives in the Penobscot reservation, unaware that the man she lives with is not her biological father. Tired of living on the edge of everything and with a desperate need for presence and belonging, Charles decides that his daughter must be told the truth; she must know the entirety of what makes up her identity. 
 
Centring Charles, his daughter Elizabeth, and those in the community around them, Talty writes a story that explores guilt, belonging, the harm that Quantum Laws can inflict on individuals and communities, alcoholism within Native Americans, and the privilege and power that comes with being the one who gets to speak, to shape and tell ‘truth’. 
 
Despite the heavy themes, there is tenderness and care in every action of the characters who, ultimately, strive to break cycles of trauma and find the way to healing. Talty’s debut novel is layered, raw and often tragic. It brings the characters’s world to life in beautiful sentences.