You Should Be Reading: The Girl With All The Gifts

“And then like Pandora, opening the great big box of the world and not being afraid, not even caring whether what’s inside is good or bad. Because it’s both. Everything is always both. But you have to open it to find that out.”

Written by M.R. Carey, based on his Edgar Award-winning short story, Iphigenia In Aulis, and originally published in 2014, The Girl with All the Gifts is a set in a dystopian future in which most of humanity is wiped out by a mutated fungal infection that eradicates free will and turns its victims into flesh-eating “hungries”.

Set at an army base in rural England, a small group of children, who appear to be immune to the disease’s effects, retaining normal thoughts and emotions, are being studied by the ruthless biologist Dr Caldwell. Spending their days in a classroom, taught by the empathetic Miss Justineau and guarded by the ever-watchful Sergeant Parks, the story centres on a particularly special young girl, Melanie. Melanie excels in the classroom and loves each day she gets to spend with her favourite teacher Miss Justineau. But when base falls, Melanie escapes along with Miss Justineau, Sergeant Parks, Pvt. Kieran Gallagher, and Dr Caldwell, and must discover what she really is to ultimately decide both her own future and that of the whole human race.

Trailer For ‘Albert Nobbs’ Starring Glenn Close as a Cross-Dresser

(Written for BritScene)

Directed by Rodrigo García (Mother and Child), Irish drama Albert Nobbs already has a US deal and has this week been given an official trailer.

The film tells the compelling and inspirational tale of a struggling woman living in 19th century Ireland, played by Glenn Close (TV’s The Shield), who has to pose as a man to work as a butler in Dublin’s most prestige hotel. Some thirty years after having to hide her true form to maintain any independence, she looks to escape the lie that she has been living after meeting a handsome painter.