Sara Flannery Murphy was inspired to write GIRL ONE during a seminar she attended in college. It was called “History of the Body,” and it set her mind racing as the subjects of pregnancy and the physical connection of mother and child were as foreign to her as if they were another planet. However, it left enough of an impact on her that she decided to explore some of these ideas through the lens of a sci-fi/supernatural thriller that has been described as “Orphan Black” meets Margaret Atwood.

On April 24, 1972, Dr. Joseph Bellanger did something that not only gained him an audience with President Richard Nixon but also made him the envy of scientists and geneticists around the globe: he successfully cloned a human being. Girl One, as she was known to the rest of the world, was the “virgin” birth of her mother Margaret and a collision with the doctor’s science. She would grow up as Josephine Morrow, but to Bellanger and the millions who both abhorred and were in awe of her, she forever would be marked as Girl One for she was not the last of his miracle babies. Because she was his first, he wrote a birthday note to her each year, and many of them are shared throughout the novel.

"Murphy has quite a few tricks up her sleeve. Not only does she deliver on the mash-up of sci-fi/thriller/mystery, she devises some mind-blowing plot twists that will completely derail where you thought GIRL ONE was going."

The balance of the story takes place in 1994, and much has changed. To begin with, Bellanger has perished along with some of his scientifically created offspring in a fire that was allegedly set by a fanatical religious leader. Josephine is visiting the burnt-out remains of her mother’s home. Her mission is to find Margaret, who has fled, but it will not be easy as they have not had much contact with each other for over a year. There are many questions that need to be answered, and the mission will involve Josephine reuniting with those young women who know and understand her better than anyone else.

Josephine went from being the impetus for a song by the Clash to a Trivial Pursuit question in the decades that followed her creation. It was the fire, though, at the place known simply as Homestead that changed everything in 1977. Josephine has battled with her own conscience mainly because she believes that it may have been her mother who set the fire that killed Bellanger and the others. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons for Margaret’s disappearance, and she will stop at nothing to learn the truth.

Josephine finds a phone number amongst the rubble, and when she calls it, she reaches a journalist from the Kansas City area who had been in contact with Margaret as part of his research for a story. She meets with Tom, and they agree to track down all the other “Girls” and their mothers to see if they have any answers. The first stop is Emily’s home, but she is not the person Josephine remembered and is far too troubled and dangerous to deal with. Like The Wizard of Oz, Josephine and Tom continue their search and begin to assemble colleagues for their mission, including Cate, a strong-willed and highly intelligent young woman.

Murphy has quite a few tricks up her sleeve. Not only does she deliver on the mash-up of sci-fi/thriller/mystery, she devises some mind-blowing plot twists that will completely derail where you thought GIRL ONE was going. Don’t miss this multilayered story of feminine identity, mother-child relationships, and the power of determination within some special young women living in a man’s world.