Author | M. R. Carey |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Dystopia Post-apocalyptic |
Publisher | Orbit Books |
Publication date | June 2014 |
Pages | 460 |
ISBN | 978-0-356-50015-7 |
The Girl with All the Gifts is a science fiction book by M. R. Carey, published in June 2014 by Orbit Books. It is based on his 2013 Edgar Award-nominated short story Iphigenia In Aulis and was written concurrently with the screenplay for the 2016 film. It deals with a dystopian future in which most of humanity is wiped out by a zombie-like fungal infection. [1]
The title is a loose translation of "Pandora". The Pandora myth appears in the story in several different ways.
Twenty years ago, humanity was infected by a variant of the fungus native to South America called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which led to the Breakdown - the end of civilization as it was before. The infected, referred to as "hungries", quickly lose their mental powers and feed on the flesh of healthy humans. The disease spreads through blood and saliva, but can also spread airborne through spores created by the fungus. In England, the few surviving uninfected humans either live in heavily guarded areas such as Beacon, or roam in packs of hostile, scavenging "junkers".
The authorities in Beacon set up a remote military base for the study of a specific group of child hungries. They, unlike others, are able to retain their mental powers and only lose control when they get too close to human scent. The only way to hide the scent is to use a substance called e-blocker, which is in limited supply.
Soldiers, led by Sergeant Eddie Parks, find such child hungries and bring them to the base, Hotel Echo, which is 30 miles outside of London and 74 miles outside of Beacon. At the base, the children are educated by teachers and tested by the head scientist, Dr Caroline Caldwell. This often means she vivisects the children, which Helen Justineau, a behavioural psychologist and teacher at the base, dislikes. Justineau sees the child hungries as people, and is especially fond of Melanie, a 10-year-old with a genius-level IQ who loves Greek mythology. Melanie loves Justineau as a surrogate mother. Like the other children, Melanie does not understand that she is different from the adults.
Dr Caldwell, who believes that she is close to a cure for the fungus, chooses to dissect Melanie. As Justineau interrupts and tries to save her, the base is attacked by a group of junkers and hungries; Caldwell is badly wounded, and in saving Justineau, Melanie eats flesh for the first time. The three find Parks and Private Kieran Gallagher, and flee the base together. The group decides to travel to Beacon, 74 miles away, argue over whether to bring Melanie. Parks only agrees after placing a muzzle and handcuffs on the child and making her ride on the roof of the tank. Melanie cooperates, now aware of the danger she poses to the others.
Melanie proves useful to the adults; hungries do not attack her and she can lead them away. While Caldwell still sees Melanie as a specimen, the others begin to trust the child. After several encounters with hungries, including a few adults that also retain some human-like behavior, the group finds the mobile laboratory Rosalind Franklin , which has state-of-art facilities for experimentation and attack, but disappeared on its research mission. Caldwell, who is dying from sepsis, uses its equipment to urgently continue her research.
While Melanie sates her hunger away from the others by eating wild animals, she finds a group of child hungries. Melanie sees that they, too, retain their mental functions, although they have no language of their own, being uneducated. Afraid that they will be experimented on, Melanie instead tells the adults she saw a large group of junkers, but reveals the truth to Justineau. Gallagher, scared of junkers, flees the lab. He is found by the intelligent hungries and eaten.
While Parks and Justineau search for Gallagher, Caldwell—obsessed with finishing her research before dying—captures one of the intelligent hungries and experiments on him. She makes remarkable findings but does not let the others inside, fearing that they will interfere. Melanie finds a giant mass of fungal fruiting bodies that have grown in the years since the infection began; while there are enough spores to infect the entire world by air currents, the pods that contain the spores (sporangia) do not open on their own.
Melanie tricks Caldwell into letting her inside. Before dying, Caldwell shares her findings with Melanie: There is no cure or vaccine for the fungus. Intelligent hungries are second-generation ones, conceived by hungries who retained some human behavior. Those born in this way retain their mental abilities.
Outside the lab, Parks and Justineau are cornered by hungries. Melanie frightens them away, but Justineau is knocked unconscious and Parks is bitten and infected. Parks asks Melanie to shoot him before the infection cycle finishes so he does not turn into a hungry; she agrees to do so. She asks him to shoot the mass of spores with a flamethrower, deducing correctly that the environmental trigger to open the spores is fire. Melanie explains before she kills Parks that as long as there are healthy humans, the war between them and the hungries will continue. For second-generation hungries to be born and rebuild the world, every human must first be infected.
Justineau awakens in the Rosalind Franklin. Melanie leads her to a group of intelligent hungries, to whom Justineau, wearing an environmental protection suit, starts teaching the alphabet.
The Girl with All the Gifts received acclaim from critics, who praised its variation from typical zombie fiction as well as the depth of its characters. Torie Bosch of Slate called it a "crossover horror at its best" and wrote: "It's a welcome shift from the focus of many zombie stories ... The Girl With All the Gifts turns eating brains from the usual empty-calorie snack into a full, complex, palate-challenging meal." [1] Writing for The Guardian , James Smythe praised the book as being "original, thrilling and powerful" and wrote: "Were the characters not so strong, the book might fall apart. The plot is rather slight, and the ending feels a little rushed; but the characters are so well drawn and so human that it's impossible not to feel for them." [3] Miles of Entertainment Weekly concurred, writing: "The character at the story's heart may have no pulse, but Melanie is empathetic and sympathetic, and her deeply tragic existence is proof that zombie tales can elicit an emotion other than fear." [4] While NPR's Genevieve Valentine was critical of the protagonist's narrative, which "veer[ed] occasionally and abruptly in one direction or the other", she still found the book to be "grotesque and grimly hopeful by turns, underscored by lovingly detailed infection in both metaphorical and very literal terms: Spores and hopelessness are equally contagious." [5]
Not long after the book's release, M.R. Carey announced that the book would be made into a movie, and that the movie's title would differ from the book; it was announced as She Who Brings Gifts. The title was changed in June 2016 to match the book.
Filming began in May 2015, with newcomer Sennia Nanua in the lead role of Melanie, Gemma Arterton as Helen Justineau, Glenn Close as Caroline Caldwell, and Paddy Considine as Sergeant Parks. TV veteran Colm McCarthy directed the movie. It is McCarthy's second feature-length film. The film's screenplay was adapted by the author. Portions of the film were shot on location at the former RAF Upper Heyford site in the former Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) areas and the Northern Bomb stores. Mike Carey was included as a "hungry" in the background of the scenes during Melanie's escape from the facility. The film, with its title changed back to match the novel, was released on Friday 23 September 2016. [6]
In 2017, Carey published a prequel novel entitled The Boy on the Bridge about a team of scientists and soldiers on a mission to find a cure for the fungal infection, which is set some time before The Girl with All the Gifts. [7]
Coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as cocci, Valley fever, as well as California fever, desert rheumatism, or San Joaquin Valley fever, is a mammalian fungal disease caused by Coccidioides immitis or Coccidioides posadasii. Coccidioidomycosis is endemic in certain parts of the United States in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and northern Mexico.
Corn smut is a plant disease caused by the pathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis. One of several cereal crop pathogens called smut, the fungus forms galls on all above-ground parts of corn species such as maize and teosinte. The infected corn is edible; in Mexico, it is considered a delicacy, called huitlacoche, often eaten as a filling in quesadillas and other tortilla-based dishes, as well as in soups.
Cordyceps is a genus of ascomycete fungi that includes about 600 worldwide species. Diverse variants of cordyceps have had more than 1,500 years of use in Chinese medicine. Most Cordyceps species are endoparasitoids, parasitic mainly on insects and other arthropods ; a few are parasitic on other fungi.
Dermatophyte is a common label for a group of fungus of Arthrodermataceae that commonly causes skin disease in animals and humans. Traditionally, these anamorphic mold genera are: Microsporum, Epidermophyton and Trichophyton. There are about 40 species in these three genera. Species capable of reproducing sexually belong in the teleomorphic genus Arthroderma, of the Ascomycota. As of 2019 a total of nine genera are identified and new phylogenetic taxonomy has been proposed.
Tinea capitis is a cutaneous fungal infection (dermatophytosis) of the scalp. The disease is primarily caused by dermatophytes in the genera Trichophyton and Microsporum that invade the hair shaft. The clinical presentation is typically single or multiple patches of hair loss, sometimes with a 'black dot' pattern, that may be accompanied by inflammation, scaling, pustules, and itching. Uncommon in adults, tinea capitis is predominantly seen in pre-pubertal children, more often boys than girls.
Dermatophytosis, also known as tinea and ringworm, is a fungal infection of the skin, that may affect skin, hair, and nails. Typically it results in a red, itchy, scaly, circular rash. Hair loss may occur in the area affected. Symptoms begin four to fourteen days after exposure. The types of dermatophytosis are typically named for area of the body that they affect. Multiple areas can be affected at a given time.
Zombie Hotel is a French-Irish-British animated children's television series about a hotel run by zombies, created by Jan Van Rijsselberge and produced by Alphanim, Telegael, Magma, LuxAnimation and Hosem for France 3 and TG4.
The KOH Test for Candida albicans, also known as a potassium hydroxide preparation or KOH prep, is a quick, inexpensive fungal test to differentiate dermatophytes and Candida albicans symptoms from other skin disorders like psoriasis and eczema.
Aspergillus terreus, also known as Aspergillus terrestris, is a fungus (mold) found worldwide in soil. Although thought to be strictly asexual until recently, A. terreus is now known to be capable of sexual reproduction. This saprotrophic fungus is prevalent in warmer climates such as tropical and subtropical regions. Aside from being located in soil, A. terreus has also been found in habitats such as decomposing vegetation and dust. A. terreus is commonly used in industry to produce important organic acids, such as itaconic acid and cis-aconitic acid, as well as enzymes, like xylanase. It was also the initial source for the drug mevinolin (lovastatin), a drug for lowering serum cholesterol.
Hyphomycetes are a form classification of fungi, part of what has often been referred to as fungi imperfecti, Deuteromycota, or anamorphic fungi. Hyphomycetes lack closed fruit bodies, and are often referred to as moulds. Most hyphomycetes are now assigned to the Ascomycota, on the basis of genetic connections made by life-cycle studies or by phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences; many remain unassigned phylogenetically.
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, commonly known as zombie-ant fungus, is an insect-pathogenic fungus, discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1859, and currently found predominantly in tropical forest ecosystems. O. unilateralis infects ants of the tribe Camponotini, with the full pathogenesis being characterized by alteration of the behavioral patterns of the infected ant. Infected hosts leave their canopy nests and foraging trails for the forest floor, an area with a temperature and humidity suitable for fungal growth; they then use their mandibles to attach themselves to a major vein on the underside of a leaf, where the host remains after its eventual death. The process, leading up to mortality, takes 4–10 days, and includes a reproductive stage where fruiting bodies grow from the ant's head, rupturing to release the fungus's spores. O. unilateralis is, in turn, also susceptible to fungal infection itself, an occurrence that can limit its impact on ant populations, which has otherwise been known to devastate ant colonies.
Massospora cicadina is a fungal pathogen that infects only 13 and 17 year periodical cicadas. Infection results in a "plug" of spores that replaces the end of the cicada's abdomen while it is still alive, leading to infertility, disease transmission, and eventual death of the cicada.
Entomophthora is a fungal genus in the family Entomophthoraceae. Species in this genus are parasitic on flies and other two-winged insects. The genus was circumscribed by German physician Johann Baptist Georg Wolfgang Fresenius (1808–1866) in 1856.
A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror genre, some cross over into other genres, such as action, comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. Distinct subgenres have evolved, such as the "zombie comedy" or the "zombie apocalypse". Zombies are distinct from ghosts, ghouls, mummies, Frankenstein's monsters or vampires, so this article does not include films devoted to these types of undead.
Conidiobolus coronatus is a saprotrophic fungus, first described by Costantin in 1897 as Boudierella coronata. Though this fungus has also been known by the name Entomophthora coronata, the correct name is Conidiobolus coronatus. C. coronatus is able to infect humans and animals, and the first human infection with C. coronatus was reported in Jamaica in 1965.
Ophiocordyceps is a genus of fungi within the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. The widespread genus, first described scientifically by British mycologist Tom Petch in 1931, contains about 140 species that grow on insects. Anamorphic genera that correspond with Ophiocordyceps species are Hirsutella, Hymenostilbe, Isaria, Paraisaria, and Syngliocladium.
Entomophaga maimaiga is a Japanese fungus which has shown striking success in managing spongy moth populations in North America.
The Girl with All the Gifts is a 2016 British post-apocalyptic adventure film directed by Colm McCarthy and written by Mike Carey. The film is based on the book of the same name by Carey. Starring Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, and Sennia Nanua, the film depicts a dystopian future following a breakdown of society after most of humanity is wiped out by a fungal infection. The plot focuses on the struggle of a scientist, a teacher, and two soldiers who embark on a journey of survival with a special young girl named Melanie.
Microbotryum violaceum is a host-specific anther smut (fungus) disease that infects Silene latifolia and sterilizes the host plant. When infected with this disease, the flowers generate pathogenic spores, which can then be transferred to other plants by pollinating insects. Therefore, this disease is sometimes classified as a sexually transmitted infection.
Epidermophyton floccosum is a filamentous fungus that causes skin and nail infections in humans. This anthropophilic dermatophyte can lead to diseases such as tinea pedis, tinea cruris, tinea corporis and onychomycosis. Diagnostic approaches of the fungal infection include physical examination, culture testing, and molecular detection. Topical antifungal treatment, such as the use of terbinafine, itraconazole, voriconazole, and ketoconazole, is often effective.