Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy is $12.99 USD on digital platforms and $18.00 for a physical copy. It involves a genetic miracle: an immaculate conception that births specifically women. Eight of them! Murphy’s work can best be described as a mysterious science fiction story with a feminist focus. It stands out for its supernatural characters and story-building. With Girl One, Murphy has conceived a gripping, unexpected novel with a value that far exceeds than its price tag.
Arkansas girl
Girl One is the second of three books by Sara Flannery Murphy. It is similar to The Possessions and The Wonder State in that all three engage in genre-blurring, mixing horror, science fiction, and a southern gothic energy that is unique to Murphy’s writing.
Inspired by a college lecture on the human body, Murphy got the idea for a reality where science achieves the”virgin birth.” The main characters are children with entirely female DNA. Each girl has a strong, wild mother, revealing Murphy’s ability to craft deeply complex, distinctive character traits.
As Murphy’s most recent release, Girl One displays the evolution of her character writing. Below you can see the Arkansas-born author with her Girl One.
A girl reviewed
WITHOUT SPOILERS Girl One is a blazing, gripping thriller that is fiercely female. A dispersed colony of nine women with no biological fathers discovers the truth of their conception. Readers follow Girl One, Josephine Morrow, as she finds her real creator and uncover her true power.
Feminist in nature, Girl One is a story of powerful women battling violence within their society. Each woman’s intrinsic strength is a metaphor for the very real fear embedded in misogyny. In a world scared of unrestrained female power, how disruptive is a woman with no use for men?
Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5
Ronnica Reads provides another spoiler-free description of the book below.
@ronnicareads Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy #sciencefiction #bookreview #booktok ♬ original sound – Ronnica Reads 📚
Run the world, girl
The book centers Girl One, aka Josephine Morrow, in the aftermath of her mother’s disappearance, as she works through a list of the seven other mother-daughter pairs. Through a detective-like, who-dun-it investigation, we uncover the real scientific mind behind their conception. This dramatic plot twist is delivered by the character Patricia, the third mother to participate in the trials.
Patricia explains that Josephine’s mother is the original mind behind the virgin birth: the one to bring all the mothers together and eventually drive them apart.
Through this reveal, we learn that Josephine’s mother and Patricia had a very strong relationship before the pregnancy trials. She expressed her theory that women capable of virgin birth would be able to rule the world, becoming a superior species to men and eliminating their purpose on Earth altogether.
Here, readers experience strong sense of female empowerment. A Virginia Slims Superwoman ad, being a point of inspiration for the mothers at the start of their experimentation, proves funny and relatable. It’s difficult to blame these characters for believing that women’s intrinsic complexity and power would make them superior.
Meanwhile, the male characters in the story claim that the experiments are ruining the place of men in the household. Most of them vehemently oppose the girls and their mothers, with multiple daughters of the experiments facing violence in their childhoods from these men. Murphy’s choice to displace the credit for the girls from a man to the story’s matriarch supplied a very nice tone shift, heightening my interest in the women of the story and making the men feel less relevant.
Supernatural elements
The last daughter of virgin birth, Fioana, is rumored to have psychic powers but died early in life, according to the public. Josephine must consider whether Fioana was the only special daughter, as well as the truth behind what actually happened to her.
It isn’t until Josephine and her siblings are trapped by two hateful police officers that Josephine’s powers emerge. The unnamed male cops attack, and Josephine uses her voice to stop them. Her ability? She can will anyone to do as she wishes.
The powers of the girls prove diverse, including a healer, fire-starter, future/past teller, and a girl with the ability to command wills through words. Each girl has a different ability that represents their mother. A sweet line toward the climax of the book captures this: “Maybe our mothers are our power” (Flannery 2021).
The supernatural element added a sense of whimsy to the plot that had previously been absent. There wasn’t much scientific exposition attempting to explain the girls and their conception. Thus, when their superpowers were similarly under-explained, I actually accepted them.
Furthermore, the supernatural abilities fit right in with the fantasy of women seeking to create a world without men. I followed right along the thread of consciousness suggesting that a woman created without a man likely would be supernatural. At the very least, she’d be super-intelligent.
The wild women
The best part about Flannery’s writing is the strong, vibrant, and mysterious female characters she creates. Each new interview-style examination of the other women like Josephine brings a new and entirely different wild woman into her life.
Emma, one of the children of the nine-virgin births, shows the audience how her ability has taken over her life. She can see past events and has trouble staying in the present moment. This is so debilitating that she lashes out and almost strangles Josephine early in the story, lending a first look into what the girls had been forced to endure.
The main antagonist in the story is Joseph Bellinger, who took the credit for the idea and kidnapped Josephine’s mother. Bellinger is taken down by his own “children” in the end. The two most discredited and dismissed girls, Girl One and Girl Nine, who are also the first and last victims of his abuse, are ultimately the ones to end him. It is a justified and fiery conclusion that was meant to be carried out by Josephine and Fioana.
Finally, Cate and Isabel are interesting and well-developed supporting characters that remained complex and individual throughout the book. Truly impressive writing!
Recommendation: girl, yes!
For those who are interested in reading, a slight warning seems necessary. After all, the book does contain implications of sexual and physical abuse as well as strong language. However, despite these elements, the book is fit for a 12+ audience, as the profanity is brief and largely limited to the final chapters. The implied sexual assault is only mentioned, with no depictions of what actually happened.
Overall, the novel is a fascinating, gripping, and emotional tale of ACTUAL girl power that is amplified by the unbreakable bond of mother and daughter. The intense female companionship and reconnection of mother and daughter throughout the story is highly moving and seamlessly integrated the plot.
Equal part intriguing and shocking, Girl One is a fantastic science-fiction thriller that young girls MUST read! A lot of reviewers agree; another fan of the book, Caroline Spalding, has written similar praise for Girl One. She recommends the book in her online review and discusses its impact in depth.
The reproductive rights of women have drastically changed since the 1970s. The meaning of modern feminist fiction varies by experience, with one interpretation starkly differing from another! Pari Pujara presents one perspective on the topic of modern feminist fiction in a similar article, reminding us that fiction is often reflective of reality. To further your own perspective, go give Girl One a read!
