jbronderbookreviews

The Smallest Thing by Lisa Manterfield

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 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.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble     Goodreads

Author’s Bio

I’m Lisa Manterfield and I love telling stories.

I’m a curious cat and I’m fascinated by human behavior and what makes people tick.

I love fish-out-of-water stories of ordinary people in extraordinary situations, especially if those situations delve into the unexplained.

I love digging up nuggets of history—not the vast sweeping stories of events that changed the world, but the personal stories of people making their way through life while history happened around them.

Like many of my characters, I grew up in the north of England. Although my hometown of Sheffield is a big city, I fell head-over-heels in love with the surrounding countryside and spent most of my early years outdoors.

In school, I became my county’s orienteering champion, which means I was a whizz at navigating with a map and compass, and thrashing my way through mud and brambles.

These days, you’re more likely to find me riding my bike at the beach or running (slowly) the trails near my home in California.

I’ve always loved adventure. My first expedition happened when I was two years old and I escaped through a gap in the fence around my family’s house. Ever since, I’ve loved exploring, whether that means heading into the woods for a hike, traveling to new countries, learning a new skill, or escaping into a great book.

Some of my favorite adventures include hiking the Inca Trail in Peru, climbing a via ferrata in Italy, feeding a rhinoceros at the zoo, seeing elephants in the wild, performing in a play, teaching myself to play the bagpipes, learning to cook Indian food, canoeing down a river, and bicycling around Ireland.

Despite my love of adventure, most days you’ll find me in slippers, writing.

In my house, I am the fixer of all things broken and guardian of the bathtub spiders. I’m lucky enough to share my home with my lovely husband, and Felicity, my seriously over-indulged (and very curious) cat.

Website     Facebook     Twitter

My Review

5 stars

Emmott Syddall is seventeen and stuck in a small fishing village that she hates. All she wants to do is move to London with her boyfriend Ro and his family. She despises the little village and plans in secret how she is going to leave. But just before she can make her break for freedom and virus starts affecting the elderly then the healthy in the village. Em doesn’t see and/or doesn’t care as she sees her neighbors start dying around her. But when the village is placed in quarantined she starts realizing that there is so much more to the people in the village.

Em wants nothing more than to escape. Yes she is selfish and self-centered but she is also seventeen and doesn’t see the big picture. Even when the elderly start dying all she sees is herself. But then she is forced to look around and realizes that things and not how she believed. I loved watching her relationship with her father grown. And although she gets her crush on Aiden I’m glad with how that turned out too.

I can relate to Em. I grew up in a small farming town. I didn’t fit in but I had no place else to go. And although it looked like a great place to grow up with very friendly people, trust me, there was a dark side to the area that has ruined my opinions of small towns.

This is a great story based on the plague of the village of Eyam, which I want to read now. Just knowing that gives this story a new level of creepy. But it’s a great story of love, loss, and realizing that there is so much more to your world than you can see.

I received The Smallest Thing from eBooks for Review for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.