The Girl with All the Gifts
Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her "our little genius." Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad. THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is a sensational thriller, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin and Neil Gaiman.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about The Girl with All the Gifts
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
On a fortified base in southern England, ten-year-old Melanie is strapped into a wheelchair each day to attend lessons with other children, until a base attack forces her teacher Miss Justineau, a sergeant, and a lab researcher onto the road with her.
Yes. Colm McCarthy directed a 2016 film adaptation starring Sennia Nanua, Glenn Close, and Gemma Arterton. M.R. Carey wrote the screenplay. The film is widely considered a faithful and atmospheric adaptation.
Yes. M.R. Carey wrote a prequel novel, The Boy on the Bridge (2017). Both can be read in either order.
The Girl with All the Gifts was written by M. R. Carey, published in 2014 by Orbit.
The Girl with All the Gifts is 416 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Girl with All the Gifts takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
The Girl with All the Gifts is a standalone novel by M. R. Carey, not part of a series.
The Girl with All the Gifts is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.