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Overall Summary
Published in 2014, The Girl with All the Gifts is a science fiction horror novel by M.R. Carey that tells the story of Melanie, who is ten years old and has been kept locked up in an isolated military base for as long as she can remember. She’s one of many children who are being used to test an experimental vaccine designed to cure them from becoming “Hungries” (infected humans who eat human flesh). Her teacher helps her deal with her identity crisis and shows her kindness despite their differences. Carey has written several comic books and television series such as X-Men comics and Constantine TV show.
Melanie is a ten-year-old girl who lives alone with her father. Every day, she goes to school where guards strap her into a chair and force her to learn math, history, spelling and reading from several teachers. Her favorite teacher is Miss Justineau, who unlike the other teachers is kind to Melanie. She argues with the guards when they are too brutal towards students in class.
Melanie has learned about the outside world from listening to the adults. The world was infected with a fungus that made people try to eat other humans; Melanie and other children were rescued, and they now live in a school-like compound.
Every once in a while, a child is taken from the classroom and never seen again. Melanie assumes that their families have been found or that they are being sent to school in Beacon, one of the last human cities. One day, Dr. Caroline Caldwell comes for her and announces she needs Melanie’s genius brain to help her with a cure for RM (rabies-like virus). She straps Melanie to an operating table and tells her about how close she is to achieving the cure before injecting something into her arm.
Just then, Miss Justineau enters the lab and argues with Dr. Caldwell about Melanie’s fate. Explosions shake the compound as they’re being attacked by scavengers known as junkers. The Hungries are drawn to them because of their scent. A junker enters the lab and attacks Miss Justineau, but Melanie bites him in order to save her life. After tasting human flesh for the first time, she realizes that she is a monster who has been feared all along because of what she truly is: a zombie.
Melanie escapes from the compound with Miss Justineau, Dr. Caldwell, and two others: a young private named Kieran Gallagher and Sergeant Eddie Parks. Melanie keeps her distance from the humans because she doesn’t want to hurt them if she grows hungry again. The group decides to make their way on foot to Beacon unless they can find a working vehicle along the way. As they go, there are many arguments among them over what should be done about Melanie—Sergeant Parks wants to either kill her or set her loose, while Miss Justineau believes that Melanie is a child who deserves their care and protection. Dr. Caldwell wants Melanie as his property for experimentation; however he’s willing to wait until later when it’s safer for him and his men since Beacon has already been overrun by zombies at this point in time.
Soon, Melanie proves her worth to the group. She scouts ahead and finds safe routes for the group. She also saves their lives on several occasions. Sergeant Parks comes to respect her because of these actions. When they reach London, they find dead Hungries who have been infected by a fungus and now resemble spores. They also find a population of Hungry children who live together in a communal manner, helping each other out.
Meanwhile, Gallagher panics and runs away from the base. He is soon caught by a Hungry child and eaten. Dr Caldwell grows desperate as she nears death from infected wounds she received during an attack on the base. She catches a Hungry child and holds it prisoner in a mobile lab that the group finds in London. When other hungry children come to rescue their missing comrade, they fight with Dr Caldwell’s team, where Sergeant Parks gets bitten trying to protect Miss Justineau (Melanie).
