A Short Walk Through a Wide World

Finished July 9

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke

This fantasy adventure book follows French native Aubry Tourvel, as she is forced to leave her home in Paris at the age of nine and keep moving. At nine she finds a puzzle ball that seems attracted to her after a neighbour passes away. She and her older sisters make a wish at an unusual well they find near them, but she can't bear to give up the ball. Soon after, she begins to bleed and convulse. Her parents take her to the doctor, but her symptoms disappear on the way there, only to reappear as she nears home again. She flees, and her family follows at first, but soon her father and sisters return home, and her and her mother keep moving. The strange malady will only let her rest a few days in one place before reappearing. 

When Aubry realizes that her situation has put a strain on family finances, she determines to go alone and leaves her mother in the night, gradually learning skills to survive. 

When we first meet her she is in her forties and in a village in Siam when her malady hits. An New Zealand family travelling by riverboat rescue her and she tells her story to them, and so also to the reader. We also see her thoughts as she chooses what to leave out along the way, the things that are truly difficult or shocking, but we see how she makes her way and also the secret doors that appear when she most needs them. 

Aubry has travelled through deserts, across mountains, and around the world more than once. When she finds herself up against severe weather, or other dire circumstances, a door will be there, in the middle of nowhere, a door that she can open and find herself in a vast underground library. She is always drawn in by the books there, books that are told in pictures, stories from every time and place, about every subject. These stories add to her knowledge and help her understand the world she must navigate through. It is a life that is lonely at times, but one that also opens her to new friendships, new languages, and new experiences. 

This is a story of adventure, of courage and resilience, of risks and rewards, unexpected friendships, and even love along the way. 

I found this book thoroughly engaging and hard to put down. This is a debut novel that is a definite winner.