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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi in this 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 Calashino 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.
Chapter 1: A Marketplace
The paper is clean and white—she hasn't drawn her first line—so when the drop of blood falls and makes its little red mark on the page, she freezes. Her pencil hovers in her hand. Her heart, like it always does, gives her chest an extra kick. She drops the pencil. Hand, like a reflex, goes to her nose. She feels the wetness creeping through her sinuses, tastes the brine in the back of her throat. It's a trickle now, no more than a nosebleed, but in moments it will be much worse—and here, of all places, just as she'd sat down.
It's too soon. It's bad luck. She'd hoped to sleep in a real bed tonight, not hammocks or hard ground, and in the morning have a bath, a proper bath in warm water, with soap. She'd hoped to add more entries to her book, like tinder or flint or paper—but how to draw a piece of paper on a piece of paper so that others will look at it and say, "Oh, I see. A piece of paper."
She'd hoped to try the food. Look at this market—taro preserves, steamed crab claws, curried prawns wrapped in sheets of bean curd. No, this will have to wait, too, for another time and another market. The list of things she won't do is even longer than that—what list isn't?—but there's no time to dwell. The bath can wait. She'll find a bed somewhere else. The list is gone. Now is the time to get the hell out.
But the marketplace is alive, the people friendly, and the river right there, a shiny tearstain through the green, clogged with colorful skiffs and fishing boats that can whisk her away, no effort at all. This is Siam, a watery part of the world, all jungle, seasons measured by rainfall. She knew as soon as she set foot here that rivers would be her mode of escape.
That old man, selling fish—such a kindly face, weather-beaten, but a glint in his eye still. He will help. Quickly, she slings her bag over her shoulder and cradles her book in the crook of her arm. She picks up her walking stick, as tall as she is, and moves through blue hairs of incense smoke and burning charcoal. She moves past fishmongers and cloth merchants and tables made of bamboo. The old man smokes a long, thin opium pipe, surrounded by racks of dried fish, dried squid, and dried octopus—anything that was once wet now hangs dry, the old man perched among the racks like a caged bird. She doesn't know the local language, but the French have colonies to the north and the British have influence to the south.
"Please," she asks in her accented English, "a boat? Do you know where I might find a boat? I need a boat."
The old man doesn't understand. He hadn't noticed her before, just looks up and there she is, the tallest person in the market, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, looming over him. The walking stick in her hand, long and straight, makes her look regal, like a venerable Buddhist nun or an emperor's daughter. Nothing about her suggests the West—no corsets, no bows, no high lace collars, only local fabrics and a laborer's straw hat—but she will never blend in here, not in this market, not in this country, where she's at least a head taller than everyone else.
She sees the baffled expression on the old man's face. She smiles so that he might lower his guard. She rarely blends in anywhere. It's more rare that she tries. Her appearance invites curious looks and lots of questions. It's the best method she has of meeting people, but it's not working on this old man.
He begins chattering in a language she can't understand. There's a shift in his demeanor. It happens all the time. He's mistaken her for a rich foreigner instead of a poor one, instead of someone who has slept in the tops of the jungle canopy and bathed in hidden rivers for the past three weeks. He tries to sell her a stick of dried pomfret. The way he's gesticulating he might be trying to sell her his whole stand. She raises a single alarmed eyebrow. She's wrong about this man. Her instinct has failed her. It rarely ...
Excerpted from A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke. Copyright © 2024 by Douglas Westerbeke. Excerpted by permission of Avid Reader Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Avid Reader Press. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
From the very first page of A Short Walk Through a Wide World, debut novelist (and librarian!) Douglas Westerbeke draws readers into the story of Aubry Tourvel, a nine-year-old girl who is not an altogether sympathetic character. She's insolent, argumentative and seems to ride a fine line between being principled and being entitled. On the way home from school one day, she stumbles upon a mysterious wooden puzzle ball:
"She'd discovered it … lying on a dead man's front walk. … It sat silently on the front walk at the foot of the steps, as if it had rolled out the door all on its own. … [I]t rolled toward her just an inch or two. Aubry stood there and watched, a little amazed."
She nonchalantly kicks the puzzle ball aside, but it seems to find its way back to her, giving the object an irresistibly eerie, uneasy quality reminiscent of the ring in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. After succumbing to the puzzle ball's allure, Aubry decides to keep it for herself instead of tossing it into the wishing well, as she promised her sisters she would… and soon after, things go very wrong. At dinner she pushes her plate aside, telling her parents she can't eat the food in front of her. But instead of chastising her for being too picky or spoiled, her father realizes something isn't right.
"…[O]ne look at her face and his anger died. She'd gone pale. Her hands were shivering and she couldn't stop them.
'What is it?' he asked her.
'I don't feel right' was all she could say … It was all so fast, so unexpected. All anyone could do was watch it happen."
She is rushed by carriage to the doctor's office but miraculously, by the time she arrives, she appears to be fine. After returning home, the illness comes back with a vengeance:
"'Oh my God!' cried her father … Aubry gasped for air … Her body spasmed so hard it could have broken bones … [She] was on her hands and knees, quivering over a black puddle, strands of red saliva swinging from her chin."
Along with her symptoms, Aubry develops a deep intuition that tells her to leave her surroundings. As she obeys this inner voice, she realizes that the only antidote for her sickness is travel. Exploring and staying in motion might save her life, but she is forevermore at the mercy of this illness. She cannot go back to the same place twice, not even to say goodbye to people she loves, and she cannot stay in any one location for more than a few days. And so, she sets off on a life-long adventure.
Thanks to Westerbeke's vivid and beautifully descriptive writing, readers will feel like they're actually traveling alongside Aubry: crossing the Himalayas with frozen feet, cowering through baking desert sandstorms, and pantomiming to communicate with strangers in Tibet. As he explores what it means to be alone, what brings us comfort, why we travel and how we grow as individuals, Westerbeke crafts layered narratives, stories within stories, which emphasize the richness of a long life. I found it especially interesting that, despite his lush and visceral writing, I did not feel emotionally close to Aubry. He keeps her at arm's length, which is particularly clever because given the nature of her illness, she doesn't have the opportunity to develop lasting relationships—not even with the reader.
Perhaps most enjoyably, A Short Walk Through a Wide World is an homage to libraries and the information they contain. Scattered across the earth, and sometimes hidden behind secret doors, libraries have the ability to sustain us throughout our loneliest times and prepare us for what lies ahead. They provide respite, help guide us and shape who we become.
I highly recommend this book that is one part adventure, one part philosophical exploration and one part love letter to libraries. It's especially enjoyable as a summer read; the short chapters help make this a real page-turner, and you'll absolutely enjoy the ride.
Reviewed by Elena Spagnolie
Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation and Light From Other Stars
Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures
Rated 4 out of 5
by Ann E Beman
What if you could live only in the present, ever on the move?
Afflicted with a bizarre, uncurable -- and sentient -- disease, Aubry Tourvel has not been able to stay longer than a couple days in any one place since she was 10, ever since she came across a strange puzzle ball on her walk home from school. Aubry's life becomes a never-ending epic, full of adventure and wonder and encounters with places and experiences and humans of all stripes. This debut novel is a coming-of-age tale, travelogue, and magical-realism-tinged adventure in self-discovery -- all rolled into one metaphorical puzzle ball. It asks, what if you could live only in the present? What would your story look like then? What would the world look like? And what would that world's stories and the library that housed those stories look like? It looks like a life-affirming, journey, as far as this coming-of-age story would demonstrate. I'm still puzzling out the ending, but overall an enthralling read.
Rated 4 out of 5
by Gloria M
Great Debut!
Mostly original concept, engrossing with a protagonist who will immediately capture your interest and your heart, great debut novel and I am eager to read more by this author!!
Rated 3 out of 5
by BuffaloGirlKS
A Strange Book
This is such a strange book. For some reason I felt like I was wandering through subterranean tunnels in much of the book before Aubrey went into the library. Each place that she wandered to where she spent extensive time isolated her and made her almost like a captive in a harem. It was honestly creepy to me. I did like reading about the different environments and cultures of the world, but that did not override the overall creepiness factor. The purpose of Aubrey's travels and thus the book's message, other than self-preservation, eluded me. I didn't understand the ending at all. Sorry to say, I won't be suggesting my book club read this one.
Douglas Westerbeke, author of the debut novel A Short Walk Through a Wide World, did not start his career as an author. In fact, he is a librarian in Ohio, at one of the largest libraries in the United States. After spending the last decade on the local panel of the International Dublin Literary Award, he decided to try his hand at writing—and we're glad he did! In this video, he discusses "The Everyday Magic of Libraries" and the "non-stop education" that is being a librarian.
Westerbeke is in good company. A number of famous writers began their careers in the library. Here, we explore a few:
Nancy Pearl is known as "America's Librarian." Born and raised in Detroit, she received her master's degree in library science in 1967 from the University of Michigan and an MA in history from Oklahoma State University in 1977. She has received many awards, including the 2011 Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal and the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. Pearl has spent much of her career dedicated to readers' advisory and working to understand why people like the books they like. She became a novelist in 2017, with the debut publication George and Lizzie. In this video, she discusses the transition from being a librarian to becoming an author.
As a young child, Beverly Cleary lived on a farm in Yamhill, Oregon, which was, according to her author website, "a town so small it had no library. Her mother arranged with the State Library to have books sent to Yamhill and acted as librarian in a lodge room upstairs over a bank. There, young Beverly learned to love books. However, when the family moved to Portland, Beverly soon found herself in the grammar school's low reading circle, an experience that has given her sympathy for the problems of struggling readers." As a young woman, Cleary went on to pursue library studies. In 1939 she received a bachelor's degree from the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington, and she accepted a position as a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington. Of course, she would go on to write the Ramona series, among many other books for young readers, and become one of the most honored American children's authors. She earned numerous awards, including the Newbery Medal (1984), Newbery Honors (1978, 1982), a Hans Christian Andersen Award nomination (1984), and the National Medal of Art from the National Endowment of the Arts (2003).
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, is best known for writing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass; however, in 1855 he also worked at Oxford University's Christ Church Library as a "sub-librarian." At this time, he also received First Class Honors in Mathematics (B.A.) and was appointed a mathematical lecturer. Ten years later, he would publish the first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The list goes on: Jacob Grimm, Joanna Cole, Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula LeGuin, Jorge Luis Borges... all authors influenced by the freedom, power and creativity that libraries foster.
Cleveland Public Library, where Douglas Westerbeke is a librarian, courtesy of Cleveland Public Library
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