A short walk through a wide world ending explained
Upcoming Blog Tours and Giveaways
Format:eARC
Source:supplied by publisher via Edelweiss
Formats available:hardcover, large print, paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres:historical fantasy, magical realism, literary fiction
Pages:399
Published byAvid Reader Press / Simon & Schusteron April 2, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads
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 bA unique premise of a book always draws my attention, simply because there are SO many books being published these days, it feels like many are a recycling of older themes and ideas. But when A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke was pitched to me, I immediately asked for it because its got a really cool (albeit horrific) idea behind it. The protagonist Aubry cannot stay in one place for more than a few days before blood starts dripping out of her and she develops a horrific pain throughout her body – the only thing that makes the symptoms go away is moving to a place she’s never been before. This forced nomadism may appeal to some, but most of us will see it as a curse, as Aubry does. Westerbeke, a librarian, does a wonderful job of bringing this adventure to life on the pages of this book.
Plot Summary
It’s Paris 1885, and Aubry and her sisters have found an oddly carved well. They decide it’s magic and vow to each throw something into it that they love in order to make a wish. Aubry refuses, and shortly after, begins to bleed out at the dinner table. Local doctors are baffled, and it’s not until she begins to move around away from her home that she r
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
I wasn’t sure what to assume from this book. I idea the plot seemed intriguing, but I didn’t think I’d be sucked in so easily and so early on! It’s a solid debut novel, and I’d be interested in reading more from Westerbeke.
❤️ Strong, resilient FMC
❤️ Simple, but intriguing plot
❤️ Easy read with short chapters
❌ Plot feeling repetitive at some point
❌ Dialogues feeling slightly unrealistic and unrelatable
❌ Some loose ends
Trigger Warnings: blood and gore, trauma, violence, attempted assault, graphic depictions of animal hunting and skinning (as a vegan, I struggled with some parts).
Plot:
Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a stubborn 9-year-old girl from a wealthy family, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She then refuses to throw it in a wishing well although both of her sisters already abandoned their own valuable belongings. Soon after, she almost bleeds to death. When she realizes that moving keeps her alive, Aubry leaves the city with her mother, embarking on a walk that will bring her around the world many times over.
The plot is very simple, and yet this guide takes you in completely recent directions here and there, without feeling o
A Short Walk Through A Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: April 2nd, 2024
Hardcover. 400 pages.
About A Short Walk Through A Wide World:
"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 th