Expanding on her compelling short story, “Girlfriend on Mars,” Deborah Willis brings the characters into sharper and brighter focus in her debut novel of the same name. It’s the tale of a Canadian couple stuck in their relationship and the ways in which they seek to both preserve and destroy it. They yearn for freedoms and yet shrink their world for years until one of them seizes on a seemingly impossible way out.

Amber and Kevin have been together for 14 years. Amber, a former elite gymnast who grew up in a conservative Bible-centered family, is adventurous, outgoing, intelligent, curious and more than a little rebellious. Kevin, raised by a single mother who suffered with painful physical and mental ailments, is content to stick close to home. He dreams and writes, while caring for Amber and the marijuana plants they cultivate and sell in their Vancouver apartment.

"Funny, tragic, keenly aware, observational and insightful, GIRLFRIEND ON MARS is a tenderhearted story of love and self, a cautionary tale of climate change, and a scathing critique of corporate greed."

Over the years, Amber grows more restless, which leads to infidelity. And Kevin’s orbit becomes smaller and smaller when he stops writing and doesn’t leave the apartment. But as attentive as he is to Amber, he is shocked to learn that she has auditioned for “MarsNow,” a reality show where the winner becomes one of the first two people to colonize Mars. Suddenly her workout schedule and new diet regime make sense. Amber charms the producers --- and before Kevin knows it, he is watching her compete on television, unsure if she will be returning home or leaving the planet altogether.

Amber’s attempt to make it to Mars is broadcast for the world to see. Kevin’s attempt to live without her happens in their small, dark apartment, mostly alone. Each embarks on new relationships, and each is forced to look closely at past decisions and their own emotions and motivations as they move forward without each other. Even before the program went on the air, Amber began an intense virtual relationship with a fellow contestant named Adam. When they finally meet in person, their feelings and attraction for each other is apparent to all --- including the show’s producers, who make their romance a primetime feature. Kevin becomes close with Bronwyn, who wants to see him happy and healthy, even as he struggles to move beyond his love for Amber and the issues he inherited from his mother.

While apart, Amber and Kevin reflect and remember. They are both more and less of themselves without each other. The bond is unbreakable, though it seems too shaky to survive. Mars looms large, and there is no stopping the trajectory that Amber is on. The hopes they each cling to --- for themselves, for each other, and for the future of planet Earth --- are at odds. These tensions are unrelenting, even when the pen Willis wields is humorous.

Funny, tragic, keenly aware, observational and insightful, GIRLFRIEND ON MARS is a tenderhearted story of love and self, a cautionary tale of climate change, and a scathing critique of corporate greed. It manages to be both absurdist and deadly serious as Willis takes on reality television, gender roles, the manufactured battle between the sciences and the humanities, the creative impulse, climate justice, and the isolation and fear that is an all-too-common hallmark of living in this damaged world. In a word, this novel is stellar.