A Short Walk Through a Wide World: The fantasy adventure of the summer - Softcover

Westerbeke, Douglas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 178733502X ISBN 13: 9781787335028

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2024

Synopsis

IF YOU COULD NEVER STAY, WHERE WOULD YOU GO?

Escape into this spellbinding novel of adventure, wonder and self-discovery, for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Midnight Library and Life of Pi.

Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her satchel that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to succumb to a mysterious illness.

When a visit to a doctor only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realises that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her incredible lifelong journey around the world . . .

From scorched sand dunes to snow-packed mountain peaks, from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and, ultimately, to truly live. But it soon becomes clear that the world she travels through is not quite the same as everyone else’s.

*LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2025*
*As seen on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show Book Club*

‘Adventure, beauty, danger . . . a fantastical fable’
NEW YORK TIMES

‘Extraordinary . . . Welcome to [Aubry’s] exciting, dangerous and romantic life’
OPRAH DAILY

READERS LOVE A SHORT WALK:
‘This book is incredible’
‘I loved every page of it . . . you just cannot put the book down’
‘A perfect read . . . Aubry is a marvellous character’
‘A true love letter to travel, adventure and discovery . . . fantastic’
‘Wow, what a stunning book!’
‘Beautifully written . . . I loved following her journey’
‘A unique blend of adventure and fantasy . . . the world-building is nothing short of amazing’
‘I just couldn’t stop reading . . . inspiring’

About this title

About the Author

Douglas Westerbeke is a librarian who lives in Ohio and works at one of the largest libraries in the US. He has spent the last decade on the local panel of the International Dublin Literary Award, which inspired him to write his own book.

From the Back Cover

If you could never stay, where would you go? The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets The Midnight Library in this dazzlingly epic debut novel. Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her satchel that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she begins to succumb to a mysterious illness. When a visit to a doctor only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realises that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. And so begins her incredible lifelong journey on the run from her condition. From the scorched dunes of the Calanshio Sand Sea to the snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and, ultimately, to truly live. But the longer she wanders, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s… ‘Gorgeous… I savoured every page of this book!’ SHELBY VAN PELT, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

Edition details

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 178733502X
• ISBN 13: 9781787335028
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400