Beautiful!

The story begins in Paris in 1885 where we meet a nine-year-old Aubry Tourvel. She lives with her parents and two sisters and is known as the spoilt younger child. All that changes right after she finds a puzzle ball and she opts out of sacrificing it. Days later Aubry starts bleeding from the eyes, the nose, the lips, and the ears, she's bleeding to death. In an attempt to save her, her parents take her to the local doctor, but once she gets there she's fine, but it starts up again when she goes back home. No one is sure what illness Aubry has but one thing is clear, she must move to stay alive. This is where her journey across the world starts. Aubry cannot stay in one place for more than three days at a time or even go back to where she has already been without bleeding to death. We get to follow her on her journey of survival and wonder.

Douglas Westerbeke did a wonderful job of sucking the reader in and keeping us invested. This is definitely an author worth keeping an eye out for.


Thank you to Douglas Westerbeke, Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

It's Paris 1885 and nine year old Aubry Tourvel finds a puzzle ball coming home from school. She tosses it into a well only for it to reappear. Days later she starts to bleed to death. This starts her journey across the globe. Aubry cannot stay in one place for an extended amount of time or retrace her step without bleeding to death. We follow her on her wanderings as she learns how to survive and live with this strange affliction.
Reminiscent of The Midnight Library and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, A Short Walk Through a Wide World is a story of discovery and survival. The story was well told with interesting characters that Aubry meets. Douglas Westerbeke brings you on a fascinating journey.

I loved this book, I have been recommending it to everyone. It is such a walk through geography and history with some magical realism thrown in, a few love stories and, finally, a happy ending, what more could you want?

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario: It is the year 1885 and you are a nine-year-old girl living in Paris, France. One day, you start bleeding from the eyes, the nose, the lips, and the ears. You walk a little way away and the bleeding stops. However, if you return to the site where this sickness took hold, you will begin to bleed all over again. The only way to stay well is to keep moving. If you stop in one place for more than three days, you will start dying again. If you return to a place where you had been before, you, too, will start bleeding all over again. Thus, the only cure for this mysterious ailment is to keep walking and keep moving. A life lived like this means a life without much in the way of constant companions, but you do get to see the world. Would you like to live a life like this? You can if you escape into the pages of Douglas Westerbeke’s debut novel A Short Walk Through a Wide World. It’s the story of Aubry Tourvel’s life on the run and the people she (briefly) meets on the way.

This novel is about two things, I suppose: what it’s like to be a woman and what it’s like to be immersed in a life of solitude and reading. When it comes to the “being a woman” angle, Tourvel’s bleeding is reminiscent of menstruation — though a much more rapid cycle of that. In a sense then, the book is about the turmoil that a woman must go through, though I suppose this position falls apart when it comes to motherhood in a way because Tourvel doesn’t stay long enough with one person to have a chance of settling down. (Though I must admit, motherhood eventually does play a role in the plot at the very end of this work.) To wit, the book is being marketed as a female Indiana Jones-type story, a tale where a woman gets to have an adventure, though at a personal cost. When it comes to reading, A Short Walk Through a Wide World sometimes has Tourvel encounter libraries inside the earth that act as shortcuts across inhospitable deserts and immense oceans. It’s here where the novel takes on even more of a fabulist bent and suffers for it by relegating Tourvel’s illness to the realms of fantasy or science fiction. (I know, I know. The illness itself is pretty fantastic, but the book is unsure of its literary ambitions.)

Still, one can easily get carried away and lost in this work. For one thing, if you’re tired of one aspect of the story, you can keep reading because something is bound to change in a few pages as Tourvel must move on and go to another part of her unexplored earth. For another, this is a bit of a swashbuckler on land as Tourvel learns to survive in the wilderness, including the jungles of Africa and South America and the wilds of northern Canada. However, the novel does falter when it tries to explain away the fact that Tourvel is running into numerous other languages (which the book messily tries to get around the fact by making Tourvel a little too inclined to pick up new languages quickly, even though they may be way different than French — such as the case when she’s visiting the Far East). And the underground libraries aspect of the book is a weak spot. Though Tourvel learns to tell her own story in these places, it seems redundant as she has newspaper reporters following her — which is another blight in that just about everyone she meets is aware of her, even in the pre-Internet times of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Did everyone read the newspaper and follow the news closely back then?

Still, A Short Walk Thorough a Wide World is a captivating read. It’s entertaining enough, even during its boring bits, and you have to admire the author’s sense of adventurousness. (Incidentally, the author works in one of the U.S.’s largest libraries and sits on a panel of a prestigious writing award, the International Dublin Literary Award.) There’s a lot of love about this captivating read, and it’s enjoyable trying to figure out the puzzle pieces of what Westerbeke is trying to say with this work. While the book does paint itself into a bit of a corner by its end, and Westerbeke has to introduce more and more fantastic elements to the work for it to not go on for perpetuity, if you turn your brain off for a bit, this is an enjoyable ride. I’m not the only one who has felt this way. The book has been out for a couple of weeks now but is already something of a bestseller in America. Thus, it looks like A Short Walk Through a Wide World marks the promising debut of a writer we’re probably going to hear more of in the years to come. While it is not quite a superlative work, it is intriguing and sometimes fascinating and Westerbeke knows how to tell a gripping adventure yarn for the most part. Just be aware that there’s a fair amount of bloodletting, and it may or may not be referential to something else entirely. I don’t think there’s much more that needs to be said about this one, so be sure to dig in and enjoy the escapism that’s on offer here. It’s pretty good, if not entirely great, and is worth wasting the few hours it will take to plow through this.

Aubry is a spoiled and stubborn nine year old girl in Paris, 1885, when she comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses the ball over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, she starts to bleed to death at the dinner table. When medical treatment only seems to make her worse, Aubry flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that the act of moving is what keeps her alive. This is the beginning of a lifelong journey with a condition that won't let her stay anywhere for longer than a few days nor return to a place she's already been. The more Aubry learns about what it takes to survive, the more desperate she becomes to share her life with others.

A SHORT WALK THROUGH A WIDE WORLD is a story with an interesting premise and is very well-written. I loved getting to know Aubry while following her travels across the world. Aubry is a character who is fierce and independent, but also hopeful and yearning for a caring touch and a home. She is brave, resilient, strong, and never defeated by her endless wandering. This is a story that spans many years and is flush with impeccable details and imagery, paired with whimsical storytelling. There are many chapters following Aubry while she is alone, but my favourite chapters are when she is with another person. While the chapters where Aubry is alone highlight her loneliness, the chapters where she is with another character highlight the need for human connection and shows how it benefited her during her travels.

The pacing of this story is on the slower side, but curiosity about the puzzle ball, Aubry's sickness, and where her travels would take her next held my interest and kept me coming back for more. I enjoyed the adventure and magical realism aspects of the story which were well integrated. I think more explanation and expansion upon the puzzle ball and the sickness before the travel began would have been beneficial to the story. Overall, an excellent debut!

<i>I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Avid Reader Press, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions shared are my own.</i>

Nine year old Aubry comes across a wooden puzzle ball in 1885 Paris, that won’t leave her side. A few days later she starts to suddenly bleed to death and no medical treatment can help her. The only thing that works is movement, so she leaves home and family and embarks on the most epic journey around the world (multiple times). I really enjoyed following Aubry on her walking adventures, especially the unique people she meets along the way. There were some fantastical parts in the book that did drag on for me. Otherwise, the story moved along at a good pace, never boring me. The story makes you re-evaluate whether spending years traveling around the world is actually worth it.

I accidentally requested an ARC for this book from Netgalley and pleasantly surprised I did.

This book was very interesting, Aubry finds a puzzle ball when she was young and everything changed. She could no longer stay in any place for more than three days or she would bleed to death. At a very young age she is left alone to wander the world and see things no one else has ever seen. She finds love only to lose it, she finds friends only to leave them behind. The libraries she wandered through were wonderful and took her from one place to another. I have never read a book like this, it was enjoyable and interesting. Always kept you wondering where she would end up or who she would meet. I would recommend this book. I received a book from Net Gallery and the views and opinions are my own.

This book is perfect for anyone who loves adventure. <3
I have to say, I love knowing this was written by a librarian!
Following Aubrey’s journey gave me all of the emotions. It reminded me a bit of invisible life of addie larue with a starless sea here and there! vibes are immaculate.

2.5/5, rounded down. This read like a really promising draft. Unfortunately, so much of this book was really half-baked and superficial. Loads of chapters that were little more than "here's another thing that happened!" without really developing the characters or advancing the story. Lots of moments where I felt like the author thought he was saying something really clever, or witty, or profound, or insightful, and he really wasn't. The author made choices that didn't make sense to me (like why did he choose to make the main character French when the book is written in English? Whole conversations between characters speaking French to one another, but I'm reading them in English). I didn't find the ending satisfying at all. I'm not really sure what he was trying to say with this book, or if he was trying to say anything at all. What am I meant to take away from this? My overall impression was that this just went on and on and I found it a bit of a slog to get through, unfortunately.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by author Douglas Westerbeke is, basically, stories within a story that tell the incredible and fantastical tale of Aubry Tourvel’s life. As she walks the earth and meets new people, we learn of the places she’s been, the knowledge she’s gathered, the skills she’s gained, the relationships she’s been able to cultivate in short periods of time. The writing is so beautiful and imaginative that it truly pulls you in and takes you on a journey to search for belonging and human connection. Those things are hard enough to find in a world where we have the luxury of more than a few days. But, somehow, she’s able to make deep and significant relationships despite the fact that she’s constantly being forced to move on. Add to that the fact that she finds old, abandoned libraries where she takes shelter and reads as much as she can before she has to keep walking, makes Aubry very much a kindred spirit.

I finished this book a few months ago, but find myself thinking about it often. I am attracted to Historical Fantasy and Magical Realism lately and ASWTaWW hits all the buttons. Lyrical, melancholic prose and an imaginative narrative create a stunning debut that is sure to stay with the reader for a long while.

3.5* rounded up

I enjoyed this story. It was so lush and transportive. There was so much in it and yet the plot was a little thin.

We follow Aubry through the world. It’s exhausting and frightening, but also dazzling.

Everything for her is fleeting but also felt. Nothing is stagnant because she must keep moving. She has no home; no place to plant roots. She travels, she gets ill and she meets people. Yet, I found myself questioning. Most people don’t move. Is it better or more interesting? Is it more valuable? Aubrey would like nothing more than to be in control. She enjoys the travel but she also doesn’t. She’s forced to move and her illness is painful.

At the same time, I wondered what the point of all of this was. Is the author pondering the meaning of life? Is Aubrey on a quest for a new home or a cure?

The plot is vague and overshadowed by the lovely mini stories of people and places. All of those people are interesting and wonderful to read about. There are a lot of tidbits that were so lovely that I won’t share so I don’t spoil it. The entire book feels like a descriptive daydream of all the various places and people one could meet. At the end of the road, there’s closure. I really liked that. The ending felt satisfying.

If you like descriptive (but not purple) prose, you’ll like this. It’s not exactly fantasy but it feels like a book with those elements.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this book but it unfortunately left me a bit disappointed. While the writing was exceptional and the plot had a lot of promise, it fell short of my expectations and it tended to, in my opinion, meander quite a bit without giving the readers a chance to connect with the characters introduced or the place Aubrey encounters in order to feel the same emotions she goes through for having to leave.

Throughout the book, which is told in a relatively non-linear fashion, we encounter the people Aubrey meets on her journey, with her life story retold through these interactions. Despite her intriguing adventures, I failed to connect with the main character or her journey which resulted in the book dragging on for me in various parts. The fact that the ending did not provide a "resolution" per se, did not assist in my enjoyment of the novel either.

Fantasy | Adult
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I requested a review copy of this one at about the same time I asked for The Other Valley, struck by their plot similarity and curious about the differences. Both involve solitary female protagonists who are moving through magical worlds, wishing they could go back through time, in a sense. But this one has a gruesome twist – when Aubry Tourvel is nine years old, living in 1895 Paris, she finds a wooden puzzle ball that somehow finds its way back to her when she tosses it aside. Beguiled, she decides not to throw it into a wishing well as she’d agreed to do with her older sisters. Soon after, Aubry falls ill with a terrible illness – she cannot stay in one physical place for more than three or four days or she bleeds to death. Thus begins a lifetime journey around the world, living lightly, finding and losing love, dodging death in more ways than one, and learning to love the world she finds and the people in it. How to describe this amazing, riveting story? It’s a travelogue that offers an historical perspective of the world from the TransSiberian Railroad to Africa to Alaska and everything in between. It’s a kind of fictional memoir, offering sad, comical and sometimes insightful musings as Aubry learns important life lessons, including the value of a skill and the general goodness of people. It’s full of magic and whimsy, from sleep-inducing pollen to hidden portals to a secret library. This one lingers, I have to say. If I had one criticism, it’s that Aubry’s growth as a person seems thin, given all she goes through. It seemed to me that most of her maturity happened in the first decade (which certainly wasn’t my experience!) – I would have liked to have seen more character development throughout her life. But that’s perhaps a reflection of where I am as a reader, rather than of the story itself. This is Westerbeke’s first novel – an impressive debut. My thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. A copy is on order for Grand Forks (B.C.) & District Public Library so watch for it on the New Books shelves.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/176443045

A Short Walk Through a Wide World is a unique and emotional story that is hard to put down.

What a gorgeous and emotional story. The premise of this book instantly piqued my interest. The story follows the journey of Aubry, who realizes as a child that she is inflicted with this terrible disease. Essentially, if she stays in one place for too long, she will die. How can that not capture your attention? I really enjoyed the flow of this book. It’s beautifully written, and the author knows how to tug at those heartstrings. Many bookworms have been comparing this story to books like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Life with Pi.

This story is this sweeping, magical adventure that captured my attention right from the beginning. I’m a bookworm who loves to travel, so visiting so many different places with Aubry was an interesting and fabulous experience. The author does a beautiful job of transporting readers to these places through lush and vivid descriptions. I really loved Aubry and her journey. The life that she has to live is incredibly fascinating and also heart-wrenching. On the one hand, she travels all over the world and has experienced many amazing things. She has met and made friends with a lot of wonderful people. But on the other hand, Aubry’s life is very lonely. She is constantly on the move, so those friendships she has made don’t last, and she can’t build those deep connections she craves. She wants a home but can’t have one. Her isolation and loneliness just leaps from the pages and right into your heart. This story was just so powerful at times.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World is a beautiful and captivating story that is hard to forget.

I can't believe this is a debut novel! It was spectacular!

The viewpoint and experiences of the protagonist will resonate with readers, and I resonated with her so much. The wanderlust aspects in particular were captivating.

The common themes throughout the novel are of love and loss and you can really feel a kinship as you journey with her.

The story was gripping and had me engaged the whole way through. The ending was a satisfying one, so it made for a well-rounded read!

This book had me really made me look at my world, and when a book can do that and inspire, it's done more than you could ask.

Bravo and thank you Netgalley

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
A Short Walk Through a Wide World releases April 2, 2024

2.75

Any book that has The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue as a comp title will instantly grab my attention.

In Westerbeke’s debut, his character is given an illness that has them bleeding to near death and suffering crippling pain every three to four days if they do not travel someplace new.
Since the age of 9, Aubry has been trying to outrun this illness that has no cure.
What happens when she runs out of cities to travel to? When every square inch overlaps with ground that she has already passed through?

I really wanted to <u>love</u> this one, but I found it was just <I>okay</I> — granted, my expectations were probably too high.

Aubry’s illness wasn’t as clearly defined as I would have liked; everything kind of just <I>happens</I> and she just always accepts the fact that there’s no cure. Given that she’s a “headstrong and stubborn” character, I would have like a bit of resistance.
She travelled the <u>entire</u> world, but what did she make of that? What lessons did she learn? What hardships did she face, other than having to uproot her life every three days?
As a reader, I was searching for a deeper message or life lesson to take away, and I didn’t get that.

There were also so many similarities that were too close to Addie LaRue for comfort, for example Aubry’s wooden puzzle ball that wouldn’t leave her possession no matter how hard she tried, which was just like Addie’s wooden ring or wooden bird — both tied to their sacrifices as being their most prized possessions.
The fact that they both originated from France, or that they both never got sick with colds.
Or how Aubry could periodically speak with the person who cursed her, just like Addie could with Luc — I could go on and on.
Actually, the more that I think about it, there was very little originality here.

In short, I do think there were some interesting ideas, but it just didn’t quite live up to my expectations in terms of overall depth.

Aubry suffers from a life-threatening illness. She can never remain in one place for too long, her body will shut down. She has to keep moving to live. What follows are her adventures around the world, filled with magic, love, danger, and wonder. She meets people who change her, and she changes people. While her travel is envied by many, she longs for one place to call home.
This book is very reminiscent of The Invisible Life of Adie LaRue. It has a sense of magic and wonder. It takes you on a journey with Aubry, and feels like a National Geographic documentary of the world. It was a fun and enjoyable read.

An epic journey that treks the world over, a number of times. Aubry finds a puzzle ball when she is nine and soon after begins bleeding to death. It is discovered that as long as she is travelling she is well, but if she stops for more than two days in one place the bleeding will begin afresh. The novel follows her adventures around and beneath the earth. It is an interesting premise, but it did not draw me in as I had hoped it would.
Interesting and unique.

- Slow burn! Took me a while to get through this book, as it started off strong, but then I lost interest in it.
- Without any time stamps or years mentioned it's hard to keep up with where Aubry is in the world. It took me a while to clue into the fact that she's travelling and this isn't mentioned directly
- Aubry suffered from an incurable disease that doesn't allow her to stay in one place for more than 3 days at a time or else she will die.
- I found the ending quite abrupt. I was happy with where Aubry was but there were a lot of unanswered questions (puzzle ball, illness, timeline)
- 3.5/5 stars - maybe just not my cup of tea, but a book for sure that goes into great detail of setting and lets your experience places with your mind!

What an amazing book. Aubry's disease causes her to wander, and this book could have read like a travelogue all about places and things. But it isn't. This is a book about relationships and people. About home, and loss and wandering. About making connections in small periods of time that create a lasting impact, both on Aubry and on those she meets. It reminds me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez with magical realism layered over intense humanity.

I'd recommend this book to anyone.