The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

July 16, 2018
It’s 2067, and 16-year-old Romy Silvers, following the death of her parents on the ship five years earlier, is all alone as commander of the Infinity as it travels to Planet HT 3485 c, a possibly inhabitable exoplanet that NASA hopes will ensure humanity’s long-term survival. Romy should arrive in 2092, which leaves her with a lot of time to watch her favorite show, Loch & Ness; write fan fiction; and share audio transcripts with her therapist, Molly. When Romy finds out that another ship, the Eternity, will cross paths with her ship in a year, she’s ecstatic and begins exchanging emails with the Eternity’s captain, the charming J. Shoreditch. Suddenly, Romy, who desperately misses her parents, now has hope for the future and, perhaps, a chance at love. When troubling news from Earth arrives and she’s cut off from NASA, things take a turn for the eerie, and Romy worries that the sins of her parents are resurfacing to haunt her. In James’s suspenseful and clever debut, the immensely likable Romy conveys her desire for the very human contact that will leave her vulnerable. Shocking revelations about J. and the Eternity’s mission, as well as what really happened to her parents and the astronauts aboard the Infinity, pave the way to a harrowing finale. Ages 14–up.

Lauren Ezzo's emotionally charged narration gets under the skin of Romy Silvers. The teenage daughter of astronauts, and the sole survivor on the Space Shuttle INFINITY, is traveling on a multi-decade mission to colonize Earth2. After her parents' deaths in space, her only contact with humanity is messages from NASA that have a two-year delay. When a newer, faster ship is sent to join her, she gets to know J., the first human she's ever met other than her parents. Ezzo lets Romy's mercurial moods infect the listener--the pain of her losses, the quickened speech and desperate whine of her occasional panic in the vastness of space, and the sweet glee of a girl getting to know a boy. As complications arise, Ezzo rockets toward the heart-stopping conclusion. S.T.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine