The Girl with All the Gifts

By: M. R. Carey

Narrated by: Finty Williams

Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

In the ruins of civilization, a young girl's kindness and capacity for love will either save humanity - or wipe it out in this USA Today best-selling thriller Joss Whedon calls "heartfelt, remorseless, and painfully human."

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 pointed 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.

©2014 M. R. Carrey (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Original, thrilling and powerful." (The Guardian)

"One of the more imaginative and ingenious additions to the dystopian canon." (Kirkus)

"A great read that takes hold of you and doesn't let go." (John Ajvide Lindqvist, author of Let the Right One In)

Best book read or heard. Completely origional!!

What made the experience of listening to The Girl with All the Gifts the most enjoyable?

First: the narrator is perfect for this book. Then the different Characters visions. Scientific, military, laymen, & first hand account of the infected. Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! Most books of this genre only give one or two of these perspctives.

What other book might you compare The Girl with All the Gifts to and why?

Maybe, "The Passage". The comradery, and also the main character, Melanie. But Melanie has much more depth.

Which character – as performed by Finty Williams – was your favorite?

Hard to say...they all had their own likabilities. It's why I like ths story SO much!! But she performed them all brillantly. No bull.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were many...I mean many! I refuse to name them because I don't want to spoil this absolute gem of a story. But the second half of the book...phenaminal.

Any additional comments?

I have been reading the horror/ apocolyps genre for years. I promise, this was definately my favorite story. I won't say more than that because I refuse to spoil any one thing for you. And anything I would reveal as my favorite would indeed cheat you. There wasn't 1 part that I wish would just hurry up to get to something else. If this is your groove, then don't...please don't, pass this one up!

Wow. What a story!

Any additional comments?

This is a fascinating story. The characters are very interesting and complex and develop over the course of the story in a way that is natural and not forced. The setting is not of a genre I usually go for (post-apocalypse/"zombies"), but I'm glad I did. The zombie thing isn't trite, it's actually pretty cool sci-fi. And the ending. Wow. Wrapped up neatly and all, but totally not what I was expecting. It was excellent.

The narration was very nice! I'm glad I've found a new favorite narrator and author. Will be looking for more from them.

A great story

The story opens in an institution that has the feel of a mental hospital or a prison but turns out to be a research facility whose avowed purpose is to discover some kind of cure or vaccine for this fungal infection. The institution is located in the middle of nowhere and heavily guarded by military types to keep it from being invaded by the remaining victims of the infection, known as “hungries”.

At the heart of the institution are a group of children. They are kept permanently locked down – shut up in cells, handcuffed, locked into their wheelchairs. They are fed nothing but grubs. The staff of the institution regards them as animals, or less than animals. But they are being educated. And they are very intelligent.

The story follows Melanie, evidently the brightest of them all. One really bad day, Melanie is taken to the doctor’s office instead of to class. Her favorite teacher, Ms. Justineau comes to try to save her. And just then, the base is invaded by the “hungries” and nothing can stay the same.

Melanie, even though she is a "hungry" turns out to be more human than most of the other characters.

This book took me by surprise!

Don't let the fact that this book is about zombies put you off. It is science fiction/fantasy and a medical thriller all thrown into one and one of the most unique books I'be read in a long time. Melanie is a zombie but she will charm your socks off!

Very entertaining, and surprised ending.

I throughly enjoyed this book. Very entertaining. And a nice twist on the whole Zombie genre I highly recommend.

GREAT LISTEN!

I am not a "zombie" fan, so I wasn't sure I'd like this but it had great reviews and I'm glad I did!. The writing is excellent-so descriptive. She described the budding branch, the mouse that forgot when to stop becoming an octopus,the little girl that was like a bag of fighting cats, just such a pleasure to listen to! (as you can read I'm not a writer) I'm not finished yet but had to write this review.

5 stars is not enough

awesome book very entertaining till the very end five stars is not enough. after listening I had my wife listen to it. would recommend this book to anyone who loves or even just likes zombie apocalypse books.

Riveting, provocative, and deeply moving

Would you consider the audio edition of The Girl with All the Gifts to be better than the print version?

Yes, for two reasons: first, Finty Williams is a terrific narrator, one from whom I hope to hear more in the future; second, there were a number of points where I wouldn't have trusted myself not to skip ahead to find out what was going to happen. This book is REALLY suspenseful!

Which scene was your favorite?

This is a tough one, but I did really enjoy the scene in the care home where Gallagher reads to Melanie. Also, the whole beginning part of the book, when you only have Melanie's (as yet) rather limited perspective on things and you're trying to figure it all out.

Any additional comments?

This book is an expanded version of a short story called "Iphigenia in Aulis," named for the Greek play by Euripides; the title of the novel, "The Girl with All the Gifts," is a translation of the Greek name Pandora. These and other Greek myths are important to Carey's story, in part because the main character's most prized possession is a copy of Roger Lancelyn Green's "Tales the Muses Told." I enjoyed mulling over the possible symbolic resonances of Iphigenia, Pandora, and other mythical figures within the story as I was listening.

Loved it!!

The creativity in the way the story was written made it very intriguing!! I couldn't stop listening!! Loved it! Would highly recommend to everyone!

Literary Catnip

The Girl With All the Gifts is a surprise favorite for me. My literary catnip is authors who can make me empathize with unlikeable characters, which this book has in SPADES, my friends.

Melanie is a child genius who’s locked in a military compound with other orphans in a United Kingdom that’s been ravaged by a viral outbreak and hunted by legions of “Hungries.” All she knows of the world is limited to a tiny classroom and its small band of teachers and military personnel who march the children from one daily task to the next.

When I first picked up this book, I was like “OK, dystopian post-apocalyptic blah blah blah, whatever.” I read a few pages on my e-reader and forgot all about it. Then I crossed paths with the audiobook and decided to give it another try. And holy flying bananas, I LOVE it. It’s like Kazuo Ishiguro meets Max Brooks with rad lady characters. And references to Greek myths. And just the right amount of creepy sciencey stuff. Whether you like to read for character, language, action, or setting, this book is bound to hit one of your sweet spots. Best yet, Carey nails the landing with twisty outcomes that I never saw coming.

As narrator, Finty Williams is the bee’s knees. She has the range to make characters seem like monsters in one moment, and misunderstood heroes the next. And also a cute British accent. You've got to listen to this!