Girl One
By Sara Flannery Murphy
Blurb
Eighteen women down to two, two down to.... Girl One.
The world knows them as 'The Homestead Girls'. Nine women who raised nine 'miracle babies' on an experimental commune in rural America.
But after a suspicious fire at the ranch kills both the doctor behind the pioneering experiment and one of the youngest of the girls, the mothers and their children are scattered across the country, some embracing the media spotlight, others refusing to talk about it.
Now years later, Josephine Morrow, aka Girl One, is studying medicine, following in the footsteps of her beloved mentor, when she is called home to discover that her mother has vanished, while her house has been trashed. If Josie is to find her, and find her alive, she will need to track down her estranged sisters and finally confront the secrets of their dark past – before it is too late.
Our Review
"Your birthday will be remembered as the anniversary of humanity's greatest scientific breakthrough"
Josephine is one of nine 'miracle babies' born on a commune in Rural America. She is 'Girl One', the first of 'The Homestead Girls' and has grownn up in the media spotlight. She is away studying medicine when she discoveres her mother is missing. Jospephine's relationship with her mother has been strained in the past but she can't help but set out in search of her.
I was gripped by Girl One from the beginning and couldn't put the book down. Easily one of the best books I have read for a long time.
"Since first grade, I could recite my personal history on command and often did for anybody who'd listen.
In the year 1970, the shiny start of a new decade, a visionary named Joseph Bellanger put out the call for young women to become part of a risky reproductive experiment. Between 1971 and 1975, nine women gave birth to baby girls. There were no fathers. Not genetically, not biologically. Only eggs dividing impossibly, without the influence of spermatazoa.
The nine of us, swiftly dubbed the "Miracle Babies," launched from Bellanger from crackpot obscurity to global fame."
Bellanger's scientific advances had eventually led to a backlash and The Homestead being burnt to the ground.
Her mother's refusal to talk about their time at The Homestead and interact with the other girls had led to their estrangement. Now Josephine has discovered her mother had been secretly researching the other girls.
Josephine's search leads her to discover that someone is picking off the girls one by one. Can she stop them and find her mother before it is too late?
Girl One is relevent right now with the events occurring across the globe and men wanting to control women's reproduction.
If I was going to sum this book up in one word it would be 'wow', in more words Girl One is an example of speculative fiction at its best.
Our Final Rating...
Read & Shared 7 Times.
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