Melanie is ten, brilliant, and loves her teacher. Every morning soldiers strap her into a wheelchair at gunpoint to take her to class. Carey lets you work out why on your own, and once you have it, the book turns into a run across a ruined Britain with the teacher, a sergeant who wants Melanie dead, and a scientist who wants her on a table. What separates it from the pile is Melanie herself, who is entirely sympathetic and entirely dangerous, and an ending that refuses the reset everybody else in the genre reaches for.
The Girl With All The Gifts