I enjoyed the writing style of this book quite a bit. It jumps around in time and space in a way that should (and at times did) feel chaotic, but not in a bad way. I enjoyed reading the main character, Aubry's, pov.

The book takes you through a ton of places and to mee a ton of people. Due to the nature of Aubry's travels her time with the people was short, so we really only capture who they are in a moment of time and the only character we really see go on any kind of journey is Aubry.
I wish the places had been more distinct. Maybe this is a purposeful choice made because of Aubry's constant travels, but the places she visits blend together and I didn't feel that we experienced as many distinct locations as I wanted to in a book like this, especially considering how many places we did see her go.

Review cross posted to Goodreads and StoryGraph

What a phenomenal gem! While I wish I had not read the editor's note at the beginning, because it gave away the suspense of the wonderful writing at the start of the book, this was one of my favorite books of the last few years. With an unusual story, phenomenal themes that make you think throughout the book, and a great ending, I just wish there was more to read by Westerbeke. Taking you from the streets of Paris through a crazy journey through the world, the messages intertwined throughout are deep and meaningful.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
This book has a lot of magic and mystery about the world so just suspend judgment and enjoy the ride...errr...the walk. It kept my attention and brought up some questions in my own life about how we value a life lived differently from ours.

As a young child, Aubry develops a strange and incurable illness: she cannot stay put in one place for longer than three days, or she will rapidly start to die. Thus begins her lifelong journey to outrun her curse. She travels the world, never able to return to where she has previously been. The longer Aubry travels and the more places she sees, it becomes clear that the world she treks is not the same as it is to everyone else.

Thank you to @netgalley and @avidreaderpress for the ARC! This book was described as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi, which was an intriguing combination. The story was interesting but sometimes I struggled with the plot as it was kind of chaotic and difficult to keep some of the locations straight. I feel like the book tried to be too much like Addie LaRue. Aubry is a French woman whose life is forever changed by a curse brought on by an ignorant mistake, which is essentially the premise of Addie. The curse was never fully explained in this novel however and that really frustrated me. It felt like the book was coming to a close several times but when it finally did end, nothing was resolved. I did enjoy all of the people and places Aubry visited along the way, and the writing itself was very good. I think this would have got a higher rating from me if there was a true denouement, but the end left me with more questions than anything.

Perfect for fans of Addie LaRue and the God of Endings, a beautifully written coming of age story of loneliness and wanderlust.

Aubry Tourvel, Paris 1885, finds a magical puzzle ball that seems to follow her around in a haunting manner. But it's only the beginning of something much more sinister. One night shortly after finding the mysterious ball, she gets sick and starts bleeding to death. As she is taken to the doctor's house, she is miraculously healed, but as she returns home, she gets sick again.

Realizing that she can no longer stay in the same place without losing her life, Aubry begins her young life of always being on the move, never staying long enough in a place to make connections and to enjoy life. She ultimately learns more about herself and learns to truly live. This is such a fascinating premise of a story. The writing is exquisite, the storytelling haunting. Fantastic read!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

* This review contains spoilers *

In A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke. Aubry Tourvel, a young child in France, falls suddenly and violently ill. Though her family seeks medical treatment for her, it becomes apparent that the only prevention for illness is movement. Thus, she is fated to a life of travel, propelled from each destination within a few days when her illness catches up to her. Along the way, Aubry learns many lessons about herself, the world, and humanity, and revels in the beauty that each destination and its people have to offer. Like the main character, Aubry, the plot of this novel wanders aimlessly over the course of Aubry’s life. Along the way we get snippets, a highlight real, of formative interactions she has with people she meets along the way.

As a reader, this story did not do the trick for me. I am pretty easy to please but felt more confused at the end over certain elements that I thought would be explained but were not really. I sat with this book for several days before writing a review because I assumed that whatever metaphor the book was trying to make likely went over my head but I’ve still not worked it out. Additionally, I felt that there were several missed opportunities for the story to tie up loose ends or at least give readers a semblance of the point that the novel was attempting to make with these elements.

1. For instance, Aubry’s initial illness occurs – seemingly – in response to an incident with an enchanted well. There is never any follow up on this or any real confirmation for why or what condemned her to a lifetime of travel. It is insinuated that it was because she was not selfless enough in an initial brief interaction with a wishing well and a personal sacrifice but we do not really see any additional evidence of this.
2. Aubry occasionally finds doors in hidden or secret places during her travel. These doors act as portals to other parts of the world, but also as secret hidden libraries that serve as a short-term refuge for Aubry between locations. Initially I thought this was meant to serve as a main theme about the power, value, and resourcefulness of libraries, but there were other confusing elements that muddled this such as the inability of her friend to enter the libraries (and the fact that they did not appear in her presence) and the reference to the possibility of other people / voices in the library despite never appearing.
3. Aubry has several one to seven day long opposite-sex relationships that are described in detail, but then has her longest relationship with a woman is glossed over and revealed to be several years long in one or two sentences. Was a weird choice by the author to focus entire chapters on some of the alleged “loves” of Aubry’s life but to gloss over others.
4. There is a magical puzzle ball featured pretty heavily that defies logic / physics / reality and though we are enlightened in a way about it’s origin, I missed why it was magic and why it chose Aubry to follow. Is it meant to be the harbinger of the curse? Is it a metaphor of something else?

I agree with a number of other readers and the blurb and would recommend this to fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Thank you to Netgalley, Douglas Westerbeke, Avid Reader Press, & Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

While the writing was great and I felt connected to many of the characters, it began to seem like variations on a theme after awhile. Yes, great interactions with unique characters and locations, but over and over? Liked the premise, but felt it could have concluded with fewer pages. I welcomed the opportunity to read this book and thank Netgalley, the author and publisher.

Oh wow! A short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke was a crazy ride.
There were times I couldn't get enough and times I was totally confused as to what was happening. The ending cleared some things up but I still have some major questions I need answered. I definitely thought the similarities to Addie LaRue and Midnight Library were spot on!!

A very beautiful book. . . A lovely story about a young girl, Aubrey, who discovers she has an illness that prevents here from staying in a place for more than three days. If she stays in a place for longer, she begins to have severe pain and starts bleeding from every orifice. The only way to stop it is to move on.
Consequently, Aubrey is constantly on the move. And not only must she keep moving but she cannot go to the same place twice.
Her story is unique, fascinating and also sad. She sees many wonders. She is alone most of the time. Difficult to have relationships when you are constantly on the move. Aubrey is an interesting person in a very unusual situation. For me , I love to travel but also enjoy coming home. For. Aubrey, there is no home.
Aubrey sees many places and things and meets many people along the way, some good and some not. I enjoyed the book very much and hope others enjoy it , too. Happy reading!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
I thoroughly enjoy A Short Walk through a Wide World. The discovery of self thru pain, loss and love.

3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Addie LaRue and 9 year old Aubry Tourvel are made of similar DNA. Like Addie, our protagonist goes on an epic quest filled with whimsy, travel and growth. A Short Walk Through a Wide world has it's own distinct voice and will open your eyes to the beauty of exploration and what it means to be alive. I wish that the first half of the book had a swifter pace, but I don't think I'm the right audience for this book anyway.

Aubrey is a no nonsense child with a mind of her own. She is a fierce character and takes on the world. In this novel Aubrey Tourvel is plagued by an illness that does not allow her to stay in the same place for more than a few days, thanks to a visit to a very unorthodox water well. The journey around the world many times over in Aubrey’s stories is magical. She will tell her life stories to anyone who listens or asks and is not ashamed of any of it. She is larger than life and it’s refreshing traveling with Aubrey in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. She suffers through loneliness and love lost many times over and we get all of it and more. The different cultures and stories with creatures never seen before is spectacular, making us think about how there are parts of our world unseen.

This book is adventurous, mysterious and just plain clever. It’s incredibly well written and I definitely recommend reading it.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World centers on Aubry, a girl with a strange disease that causes her to constantly be moving throughout the world to stay alive. You follow along on her many adventures around the world.

The sense of adventure and seeing what Aubry came across is what kept me reading this novel. I felt the writing was beautiful and it was interesting to see the world through her eyes. It felt like a fairytale for adults. However, the timeline was confusing for me. Aubry would be telling her story to multiple people over her life, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if she was only telling her story to one specific person, almost like in Forrest Gump.

This book has a lot of things going for it, but I don't think it was a good fit for me. I would recommend to people who enjoy fantasy and who liked The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

This book reminded me so much Of Addie LeRue. The main character in both is essentially alone for eternity, but for different reasons. Aubry needs to keep moving in order not to bleed out and die from her curse. She lives a lonely life, only being able to connect with others, or stay in one place, for short periods of time. On the one hand, always moving allows for great adventures around the world, in exotic and fabulous locals, which in many ways enriches her life, and certainly add interest to the story. But never really putting down roots does take it's toll on Aubry. I like the way she feel so connected to libraries and finds temporary sanctuary in them, while at the same time is it also adds a bittersweet aspect to her journey . The author's writing style is delightful to read, incorporating elements of magical reality to the beautiful prose, giving the story a whimsical quality at times. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC opportunity.

I am so enjoying this story! A young French girl , Aubry, "cursed" with an illness that forces her to travel, never to the same place twice? Fascinating! The chapters are just the right length for commutes, so one should never be stuck in the middle of a chapter, waiting to see what happens next. Every chapter is a new adventure: new scenery, new village, town, city, country, new characters.... Learning about how Aubry picks up survival skills and the people who come to her aid along the way, it's just so intriguing. Totally novel story. Mind, it is mostly narrative, but the ilanguage just draws one in with it's descriptiveness. There always seems to be a new twist that keeps one wanting to keep reading to see what happens next! Kudos Doug Westerbeake; I can't wait for your next book!

I was drawn to this one based on the comparison to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It was a bit slow to start, and I was having trouble getting into it.

I keep switching this back and forth between four and five stars, but ultimately I think it was a really well written 4 star book as it's probably not one that will stick with me.

Aubry Tourvel has not been able to stay in one place for more than a few days without excruciating pain and/or bleeding from every orifice since she was nine years old. So instead she walks the globe, in a new place meeting new people every day, never sticking around long enough to call anyplace home. But Aubry travels more quickly than she should be able to on foot and magically survives conditions that should have killed her. And then there are the mysterious underground libraries she seems to find in the strangest places, all over the world.

This book was beautifully written. I really can't gush about the writing enough and I will probably read anything Douglas Westerbeke writes because it was really lovely. Aubry was a sassy but thoughtful, strong and well rounded character. The rest of the cast maybe not so much but this is really The Aubry Show so it was fine. I love finding a book that follows a character I love from childhood to old age, too.

I'm still genuinely confused about the timeline of Aubry's life but I do think that was kind of the point. This book is offbeat but also weird in a way that sneaks up on you so slowly it's almost disarming. Don't expect to have all the answers at the end. I don't have very many. Smarter people than me may glean more from it but I'm left still pretty in the dark, which is kind of fine. I think. Clearly, I'm still working through some feelings about this.

Also, I'm sorry but I just feel like I have to mention: the queer baiting. It felt like there was queer baiting. Throughout the book we follow Aubry through her journeys, the bulk of the time spent on her time with the various men she's loved and had to leave. But then she meets a woman who wants to travel with her and one night they're in a cave and said woman comes on to her HARD, literally touching her thighs, and Aubry is clearly confused at the very very least and then IT'S NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN EVER. That was frustrating man, let me tell you, and honestly might be the sole reason I knocked it down from five to four stars.

Otherwise, it was maybe a little slow to start and I can't quite pinpoint when it happened, but at some point I fell in love with this. I don't think it'll be for everyone and I don't think I'd recommend it if you want a fast paced plot or a lot going on at once. Aubry wanders, meets people, sometimes falls in love, sees beautiful sights, sometimes thinks beautiful thoughts. I may read it again some day because I'm sure there's plenty more I can get out of this story.

3.75 Stars

This is the story of a nine-year-old girl named Aubry, as it begins the year is 1885, and her life through the years that follow will bring her fame that is on a level that no one would want. This begins, innocently enough, with her finding a wooden puzzle ball on her way home after school one day, which she throws over a fence, but mysteriously is in her backpack later. Days pass, and one night at dinner, she begins to bleed, and it doesn’t stop.

When she realizes that moving is what keeps her from bleeding she begins a journey that will separate her from her family, as she can only stay for brief periods of time anywhere before the bleeding returns, and she can’t return to places she’s been.

It is a challenging life for her, and often heartbreaking. Those who extend kindness and love to her often don’t understand why she has to leave, and those that she loves and has to leave in order to keep moving in order to keep living don’t always understand.

As the years pass, her story gains more attention, which brings her some degree of fame, although not the kind that anyone would really want. But her fame has also brought new people into her life, some wanting to tell her story and some just wanting to help her find peace.

Stories, in this story, have a prominent place, as well. As she journeys through the world she is drawn to old, seemingly abandoned libraries, where she stays as long as she is able before she needs to leave to stay alive, and reads as many books as possible while she is there.

At its heart, this is a story that is about the choices we make about how we live, who we love, and finding the place that we can finally call home.


Pub Date: 09 April 2024

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book! The premise of this drug me in - what if you were cursed to wander the earth or else face the consequence of a powerful curse? We follow Aubrey as she navigates exactly that. Due to the nature of the premise, Aubrey is the main focus throughout, without much a glance at side characters or the people Aubrey meets. The writing is beautiful as we travel through Aubrey’s perspective. The ending comes abruptly and without much of a resolution, but fits with the overall theme of loneliness in the novel.

The story follows Aubry Tourvel, a young woman cursed with a condition, due to a singular and selfish life decision, that forces her to keep moving in order to stay alive.

From the very beginning, this book draws you in with its intriguing premise—Aubry's inability to stay in one place for too long. Creating a sense of urgency and constant motion that many of us may relate to as we're off avoiding adult responsibilities.

🗺️ The world building is easy to follow, as this book is based in the real world. At times the jumps between periods in time and places can be a little jarring but easily picked up again at a later time.

🌶️ The spice level is nearly 0 with a few small bits sprinkled along the way. This book focuses more on the characters worldly experience and not those experiences in her pantaloons.

📚 This book is for you if you enjoy historically based books, that take you to new yet visitable destinations. Or if you yourself are an avid traveller and can relate to the unique areas that Aubry visits.

✈️ Not always the easiest read for travelling, you may find yourself flipping back to previous pages as the timeline jumps around. At times the book is exceptionally fast paced and other times a little slow.

Bonus points for the fun destinations and experiences that Aubry has, and the joy of knowing that travel in 2023 is a lot easier and more comfortable.