ā«š§ā« Welcome fellow bibliophiles to our next tour stop! Audiobookworm Productions has organized an audiobook blog tour for The Smallest Thing, a Young Adult novel from author Lisa Manterfield & narrated by Charlie Sanderson! The tour will run from Sep. 12th-18th and will have 30 maximum stops. In addition to myself, there are other amazing bloggers hosting exclusive content! Every blog has something different so follow the post to the bottom and click on the hyperlinks. Comments & shares are always appreciated; stop by and say hello if you feel so inclined. Happy reading! š

Author: Lisa Manterfield
Narrator: Charlie Sanderson
Length: 8 hours and 28 minutes
Publisher: Lisa Manterfield
Released: Aug. 9, 2019
Genre: Young Adult Fiction

The very last thing 17-year-old Emmott Syddall wants is to turn out like her dad. Sheās descended from 10 generations who never left their dull English village, and thereās no way sheās going to waste a perfectly good life that way. Sheās 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 whatās 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.


Lisa Manterfield is the award-winning author of Adult and Young Adult fiction.Her second novel,The Smallest Thing, was a finalist in the 2019 American Fiction Awards. Her work has appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Los Angeles Times,andPsychology Today. Originally from northern England, she now lives in Northern California with her husband and over-indulged cat. When not at her treadmill desk, she can be found pulling weeds and daydreaming in her vegetable garden. Learn more at LisaManterfield.com.
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Q&A with Author Lisa Manterfield
Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?
- Not at all. I first started playing around with the idea for THE SMALLEST THING several years ago, before digital audiobooks started gaining popularity. Iām not sure it even crossed my mind that it might become an audiobook someday. It was a fascinating process to hear the book read to me by someone else and to hear her interpretation of the characters and story. Iāll definitely be keeping this in mind with future books.
How did you select your narrator?
- I auditioned several narrators but as soon as I heard Charlie, I knew she was the one. She was born in Yorkshire, the region of England that I am from originally, and she grew up not far from the real-life village of Eyam, where the book is set. It wasnāt just that she was able to do the regional accents; she understood the quirky supporting characters on a personal level. Thereās a nosy old lady in the village, a fairly minor character in the story, and Charlie brought her to life and made her so real and authentic, she almost steals the whole book!
Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
- This book was inspired by the real-life events that happened in the village of Eyam. In the 1600s, the plague ravaged London, killing more than 100,000 people. A tailor inadvertently carried the disease to the tiny village of Eyam 150 miles away. As people started dying, the village elders decided to quarantine their community to prevent the spread of the disease. The people of Eyam made the courageous decision to risk their own lives to save thousands of others.
- I grew up not far from Eyam and was always fascinated by this little-known story of courage and self-sacrifice. I wanted to find a way to retell it, and eventually decided to bring it into contemporary times and focus on the story of one young woman trapped there. My Em is based on the real-life character of Emmott Syddall. If you visit Eyam today, youāll find Emmottās home and many of the cottages where the victims lived and died. People still live in those houses today. You can also visit graves and a boundary stone where people from outside the village would leave supplies. Itās very moving to be there and think about what happened there more than 400 hundred years ago. I always wondered what it would be like if that story happened today ⦠so I wrote THE SMALLEST THING to find out!
Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals to you?
- I really enjoy audiobooks. I was fortunate to have stories read to me as a child and thereās still a part of the grown-up me that loves that. Also, I am looking at written words on the page all day, so itās very restful to be able to close my eyes and hear a story. I listen to audiobooks at night, so yes, I am still having bedtime stories read to me.
Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
- When I read, I always do the voices in my head, so hearing my characters speak was an amazing experience. I think the humor in some of the personalities really came out in Charlieās hands (or mouth). For example, Aiden, the relief worker that Em befriends, was always charming, but he becomes utterly irresistible when he speaks! And the nosy neighbor, Mrs. Glover, really brings some comic relief to the story. I suppose that must have always been there in the writing, but hearing their voices brought them to life.
If you had the power to time travel, would you use it? If yes, when and where would you go?
- Iām fascinated by Ancient Egypt, so Iād love to go to see what it was really like. I think Iād end up getting into trouble though. Youāre not supposed to do anything to change the course of history when you time travel, but Iām not sure Iād be able to stop myself from inviting certain historical villains for a cup of tea and a little chat about their appalling behavior.
What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as ācheatingā or as inferior to āreal readingā?
- I fully admit that I still love to pick up and read paper books, but I donāt consider audiobooks to be cheating at all. If you go back to the origins of storytelling, it was all verbal. We sat around our cave fires telling stories of sabre tooth tiger attacks and wooly mammoth conquests. Early humans shared stories to pass on wisdom, and thatās still true today. A good story teaches us something about ourselves, or others, or the world around us. Whether we consume stories by reading, listening, or watching them performed, the end result is still the same.
What gets you out of a writing slump? What about a reading slump?
- Walking gets me out of a writing slump. I have a beautiful wooded park not far from where I live. I have walked miles there as Iāve tried to noodle through writing problems. Just being out in nature, hearing birds and the wind in the trees, helps clear my head. I read a lot of books because I āneedā to read them, either to write reviews or to study other authors, so sometimes I burn out on reading. When that happens, I find something to read just for fun.
Have any of your characters ever appeared in your dreams?
- My next novel is almost ready for publication (and yes, there will be an audiobook edition!) That story came to me in the most vivid dream Iāve ever had. I was staying at a friendās house and slept in her room. She had all these stuffed toys and a big net full of rubber ducks. It was a fun room, but quite claustrophobic for sleeping. Anyway, I had this crazy dream. I was a little girl in the backseat of a car. Through the rear window I watched a man, who I was sure was my dad (my dream dad, not my real dad), drop a body into a lake. And I knew that the body was my sister. (I donāt have a sister IRL, thankfully!) It was so vivid and real and it stuck with me for months. My husband said, āYou have to write that storyā but I couldnāt do it. It was too horrible. It was quite a few years before I figured out how to use that dream to tell a story I actually wanted to write. It became THE PERFECT SISTER. Itās a psychological suspense, but not as terrifying as the dream.
What bits of advice would you give to aspiring authors?
- Keep writing. Make time in your life, even if itās only a few minutes a day, to write something. If your mind is overflowing with ideas, pick one and focus on finishing a draft. Then put it aside and start something new. You learn so much from finishing a project, whether itās a novel, short story, or something else, and understanding where it hangs together and where it falls apart.
Whatās next for you?
- My next novel, THE PERFECT SISTER is finished and being shopped around. While I wait the eternal wait, Iām working on a Historical YA set in World War II, which Iām really enjoying. Iām also in the process of producing my first novel, A STRANGE COMPANION, as an audiobook. Iām narrating it myself, which is a very different experience, but really fun. It should be available later this year. Hopefully, Iāll get to come back and tell you all about it.

Lisa Manterfieldās Top-Ten Tips Literary inspirations
- Bronte Country: I grew up in Yorkshire, like the Bronte sisters. The dark moody settings of their novels have inspired my own writing.
- Travel: I always carry a notebook when I travel. A place or a nugget of history can inspire an idea, or sometimes just the feeling in the air can put me in a mood to write a certain kind of story.
- My Local Library: Libraries are such a critical part of our communities because they give everyone access to books. I love to browse the stacks and just look at the titles and topics available. You can find a book on almost anything! Itās great for inspiring character or subject ideas.
- The Outdoors: I am happiest outdoors. I love trees and I love my garden. I love other peopleās gardens, the coast, the forest, the hills. If ever I need inspiration, I get outdoors and walk.
- Joyce Carol Oates: The more I learn about this author, the more she inspires me. Sheās hugely prolific, writes both novels and short stories, and is not someone whose work can be fit easily into a category. Iām taking her Master Class right now and she is inspiring me to write more than ever.
- Historic places: You know the expression, āIf these walls could speak, the stories theyād tellā? In a way, old walls do speak. Iāve often visited historic sites and sort of felt the weight of the stories that happened there. It almost always makes me want to tell a story about the place.
- Book festivals: Book lovers are special and I love the energy of being around a large group of readers. Itās inspiring to hear famous authors speak, but itās just as inspiring as an author to see voracious readers staggering around with towers of books.
- Writing conferences: Just as readers inspire me, being among writers always fires me up. I just attended the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, and after four days of writing and hanging out with writers, I came home and wrote and wrote.
- My garden: A couple of years ago, I bought my first house with a garden. It still needs a lot of work, but in one shady corner I have a chair by a little fishpond and itās become one of my most inspiring places to write.
- My Husband, aka Mr. Fab: Heās not so much an inspiration as a relentless supporter. He read something I wrote (which wasnāt very good) when we were first dating. He encouraged me to keep writing and heās never stopped being supportive since. That support is priceless, not to mention sexy!

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Reviews & Promos by Nyx
Always Love Me Some Books Blog
Hi Nyx,
Thanks so much for hosting me on the tour and for sharing The Smallest Thing with your readers.
Best wishes,
Lisa
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You’re welcome! It was a pleasure having your promotion on our blog
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