The very last thing 17-year-old Emmott Syddall wants is to turn out like her dad. She’s descended from ten generations who never left their dull English village, and there’s no way she’s going to waste a perfectly good life that way. She’s moving to London and she swears she is never coming back. But when the unexplained deaths of her neighbors force the government to quarantine the village, Em … village, Em learns what it truly means to be trapped. Now, she must choose. Will she pursue her desire for freedom, at all costs, or do what’s best for the people she loves: her dad, her best friend Deb, and, to her surprise, the mysterious man in the HAZMAT suit?
Inspired by the historical story of the plague village of Eyam, this contemporary tale of friendship, community, and impossible love weaves the horrors of recent news headlines with the intimate details of how it feels to become an adult—and fall in love—in the midst of tragedy.
Praise for The Smallest Thing
“Lisa Manterfield’s richly detailed novel…is graced with themes of self-sacrifice, the power of human touch, and the need to act in the face of horror.” ~ Catherine Linka, author of A Girl Called Fearless
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Rating 3.5
The main character is your typical teenage girl, who cares for no one other than herself, and for the things she wants to achieve. And then disaster strikes and she is quarantined in her small village with the rest of town, and begins to watch people die who she’s known her entire life.
Not a lot happens in this book, but the author very successfully writes a selfish teenage girl, in love/lust, and with a fractious relationship with her family. The small English town sounds straight out of the set of Midsomer Murders, and the author depicts that really well.
Given all we know about ebola and the spread of the bubonic plague etc, it wasn’t hard to imagine this as a reality. It’s also not hard to imagine teenage girls doing stupid things.
So yes, what I’m trying to say is that I enjoyed the book. It was a slow burn. I enjoyed the last third of the book more than the first third. Until I got to about 60% of the way through, I didn’t care much for the protagonist or what she was going through, after that though, I needed to know what was going to happen! There aren’t too many characters for your to wrap your head round. There were some good spots of tension, and a nice subplot which ran through the book.
Manterfield wrote this several years ago after researching a real life pandemic in Europe about a century ago. In her mind, it could happen again… HOW RIGHT SHE WAS!
The Smallest Thing by Lisa Manterfield is my first encounter with this author. It will not be my last. I did not want to stop listening to this book. The Smallest Thing is a gripping read with a mix of suspense, laughter, loss, and redemption. The story is well written and the characters are well developed. This is a great story about a young girl who wants to live a life outside of the legacy that generations of her family have forged, and coming into her own and becoming her best self even in the most unfortunate circumstances. This is a great story about a young girl who wants to live a life outside of the legacy that generations of her family have forged, and coming into her own and becoming her best self even in the most unfortunate circumstances. I listened to the Audiobook. Charlie Sanderson is a terrific narrator and voice performer. She brings these characters to life, gives each their own voice and personality. She sets the perfect tone for the story and does an awesome job projecting the emotion of the characters into her performance. She is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for great listen! This is an excellent book and I recommend it.
What makes a village? In its simplest form, it is a community of families who work with each other to survive. If that doesn’t happen, what kind of village would that be? Manterfield brings some pretty powerful fears to life with this story, but the fear is credible which makes it even more terrifying. When someone you love has been infected with a deadly virus, your choices are every bit crucial to their survival and comfort as well as your own. How could you possibly ever make that decision?
Emmott Syddall has a cozy life in her little village, but it is not enough. She wants to move to London and she has it set in her mind that she will never look back. Her family has decided to split ways for the holiday, leaving her and her father in the village while her mother and sister go to visit family. That was possibly the worst and best mistake ever imaginable. When neighbors and lifelong friends become sick and start dying from a mysterious illness, Emmott and her father are struck with a grim fate ahead. Before they are able to understand what has fully happened, they are quarantined by this team of hazmat suited men and women to contain whatever it is that is spreading rampant in their village. That means everything that they’ve ever had will be taken away from them, including quite possibly their life. Emmott and her father form a stronger bond in these months than she has ever had with him before as they struggle to ease their community’s fears while trying not to catch the virus themselves. Only one glimmer of hope remains in the darkest times of their life, a love so powerful blooms between Emmott and one of the Red Cross aid workers that may never get to see the light of day.
Manterfield has a superb story-line, filled with creativity, historical elements, and originality. The concepts are not foreign to many readers as we’ve read in school and throughout history of plagues and viruses that decimate villages and towns over short periods of time. The pace is quick and steady from the beginning and carries through the entirety of the story. Manterfield provides an urgency to the lives of these main characters while an unexplained illness wreaks havoc across their small stretch of community. There is a lot of emotional turmoil throughout this story, allowing the reader to sympathize with the characters. Sanderson’s narration of the audiobook brings life to the story and draws the reader in. If you are interested in young adult fiction with a touch of historical element, this may be a perfect fit. Fair warning, once you plunge into this novel, you’ll be hooked until the very end.
An audiobook was provided to Turning Another Page by Audiobookworm Promotions and in no way affects the honesty of this review. We provide a five-star rating to The Smallest Things by Lisa Manterfield.
Em is a young woman on the cusp of chasing her dreams and breaking the family mold by moving to London when a devastating virus causes her hometown to be quarantined. If Em felt trapped before, she was wrong. She and her community could die trapped. Em faces many assumptions about her life, purpose, parents, love, and friendships. I wanted to shake and hug Em throughout the book. A very good read.