A Short Walk Through a Wide World

A Novel

Douglas Westerbeke

• Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
• eBook ISBN:
  9781668026083
• Year: 2024

“Imagine The Life of Pi, The Alchemist, and The Midnight Library rolled into one fantastical fable.” —The New York Times Book Review * “An epic adventure…rich with all the possibilities the world can hold.” —People

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A dazzlingly epic debut that charts the incredible, adventurous life of one woman as she journeys the globe trying to outrun a mysterious curse that will destroy her if she stops moving.

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 backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death.

When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days—nor return to a place where she’s already been.

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 Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s...

Fiercely independent and hopeful, yet full of longing, Aubry Tourvel is an unforgettable character fighting her way through a world of wonders to find a place she can call home. A spellbinding and inspiring story about discovering meaning in a life that seems otherwise impossible, A Short Walk Through a Wide World reminds us that it’s not the destination, but rather the journey—no matter how long it lasts—that makes us who we are.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Chapter 1: A Marketplace
• Chapter 2: A Riverboat in Siam
• Chapter 3: Home
• Chapter 4: A Riverboat in Siam
• Chapter 5: Home
• Chapter 6: Home
• Chapter 7: Home
• Chapter 8: Home
• Chapter 9: A Riverboat in Siam
• Chapter 10: The Art of Exile
• Chapter 11: A Riverboat in Siam
• Chapter 12: The Art of Exile
• Chapter 13: I Have Learned to Hunt
• Chapter 14: A Riverboat in Siam
• Chapter 15: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 16: A Riverboat in Siam
• Chapter 17: A Brief Aside
• Chapter 18: On a Train with Lionel Kyengi
• Chapter 19: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 20: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 21: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 22: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 23: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 24: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 25: On a Train with Lionel Kyengi
• Chapter 26: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 27: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 28: Uzair and the North African Odyssey
• Chapter 29: On a Train with Lionel Kyengi
• Chapter 30: On a Train with Lionel Kyengi
• Chapter 31: On a Train with Lionel Kyengi
• Chapter 32: A Brief Aside
• Chapter 33: The Prince
• Chapter 34: The Prince
• Chapter 35: The Prince
• Chapter 36: Hunters of the Plateau
• Chapter 37: Hunters of the Plateau
• Chapter 38: Hunters of the Plateau
• Chapter 39: Hunters of the Plateau
• Chapter 40: The Prince
• Chapter 41: Hunters of the Plateau
• Chapter 42: Hunters of the Plateau
• Chapter 43: Hunters of the Plateau
• Chapter 44: Hunters of the Plateau
• Chapter 45: The Prince
• Chapter 46: The Prince
• Chapter 47: The Prince
• Chapter 48: The Wish
• Chapter 49: The Prince
• Chapter 50: The Prince
• Chapter 51: How She Crossed the Mountains
• Chapter 52: Terra Obscura
• Chapter 53: The Prince
• Chapter 54: The Prince
• Chapter 55: The Prince
• Chapter 56: The Prince
• Chapter 57: An Aside, Not So Brief
• Chapter 58: With Marta in the Klondike
• Chapter 59: With Marta in the Klondike
• Chapter 60: With Marta in the Klondike
• Chapter 61: An Unmovable Dream
• Chapter 62: With Marta in the Klondike
• Chapter 63: With Marta in the Klondike
• Chapter 64: With Marta in the Klondike
• Chapter 65: Terra Obscura
• Chapter 66: Home (But Not Quite)
• Chapter 67: Home (But Not Quite)
• Chapter 68: Home (But Not Quite)
• Chapter 69: With Marta in the Klondike
• Chapter 70: With Marta in the Klondike
• Chapter 71: On a Boat with Lionel Kyengi
• Chapter 72: On a Boat with Lionel Kyengi
• Chapter 73: With Marta in the Congo
• Chapter 74: With Marta in the Congo
• Chapter 75: With Marta in the Congo
• Chapter 76: With Marta in the Congo
• Chapter 77: With Marta in the Congo
• Chapter 78: An Aside, Brief Again
• Chapter 79: Terra Obscura
• Chapter 80: Terra Obscura
• Chapter 81: Terra Obscura
• Chapter 82: Terra Obscura
• Chapter 83: Terra Obscura
• Chapter 84: Terra Obscura
• Chapter 85: The Art of Exile
• Chapter 86: A Marketplace
• Chapter 87: An Idyll for Lost Children
• Chapter 88: An Idyll for Lost Children
• Chapter 89: An Idyll for Lost Children
• Chapter 90: An Idyll for Lost Children
• Chapter 91: An Idyll for Lost Children
• Chapter 92: Home
• Acknowledgments
• Reading Group Guide
• About the Author
• Copyright