Extraordinarily, this is Edwards’ debut novel. It’s not long before the students’ teamwork is tested to its very limits as disaster threatens the dig site and before Jarra is taken to the very limit of what she is prepared to do.Īnd so this is the world created by Janet Edwards in Earth Girl. Even the suspicious Playdon begins to believe her story and soon she has won the admiration of her team and something a little more from Fian, a young man who is also not afraid to test himself. Jarra might be pretending to be someone she is not but she can’t fail to impress due to her experience in archaeology (gained during years tied to Earth) and with her bravery and resourcefulness.

Parentless, she is legally entitled to contact her parents now that she has reached adulthood but instead Jarra creates an alternate past so that she can achieve her goals.Īs a member of University Asgard, Jarra joins a team of students under the instruction of Playdon at the New York Dig Site. She pretends to be the daughter of military parents, restricted to Earth while her mother and father heroically contribute to the transformation of distant planets for future colonisation. But, as an Ape (a derogatory term that has become all but official), she can’t attend the best universities which are off world. One such Ape is our Earth Girl, 18-year-old Jarra, a fiercely intelligent, ambitious and immensely likeable girl who wants nothing more than to be an archaeological explorer of Earth’s past, to be proud and independent as she grows and to be the best that she can possibly be. These Earth-chained humans are Apes or Neanderthals, tolerated and patronised. Born off planet, the only action that can save their lives as newborns is an emergency immediate portal to Earth, sometimes with their parents, often without. Some are tied to Earth due to a genetic mishap which renders them allergic to life beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

Unfortunately, not everyone can make their escape. Of course, Earth’s historical past might be revered but its present is far less appealing and so, at the end of their studies, the young will make the portal journey back to their adopted planet. The celebrities of this age, the winners of medals and acclaim, are TV historians. Intriguingly, then, the young aspire to be historians and archaeologists. Much of humanity might have left Earth but one thing they cannot shake off is a sense of fascination for their past. Earth itself has become little more than a subject of study for its colonists who have abandoned the planet for others great distances away, now settled and terraformed and all linked together with portals.

Earth Girl by Janet Edwards