The Girl With All The Gifts

Author: M. R. Carey

Melanie is a clever girl, she has a genius-level IQ and she's only 10 years old. But the adults looking after her keep her tied up and at gunpoint, because Melanie is a 'hungry;. Most of humanity has been infected by a strange fungus that wipes out their intelligence and brings on cannibalism. The few surviving humans live in heavily guarded bases, in one of which they are investigating a small number of hungries like Melanie who have retained their intelligence. Then the base is attacked, and Melanie, her two teachers and a couple of guards have to try to escape across country. Along the way, they make devastating discoveries about the nature of the hungries, which means that humanity will never be the same again. Why it's on the list: The zombie apocalypse has become one of the most over-familiar tropes of recent times, but most versions play with a very limited set of characteristics. It is both surprising and welcome, therefore, to find a new and different way of treating the subject. But that is exactly what The Girl With All The Gifts is, and it is both compelling storytelling and incredibly moving as a result.