A Short Walk Through a Wide World

A Short Walk Through a Wide World (2024) is the debut novel by American author Douglas Westerbeke, who works for the Cleveland Public Library system, from which he took inspiration for his novel. A Short Walk Through a Wide World, a novel in the genre of fabulism, was chosen as a Barnes & Noble “Discover Pick of the Month” and has been favorably compared to The Life of Pi, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Alchemist, and The Midnight Library. Beginning in 1885 Paris, the novel follows nine-year-old Aubry Tourvel, who suffers from a mysterious sickness that will kill her unless she keeps traveling and never lingers in any location for more than a few days. Over the course of decades, Aubry circles the world, witnessing many strange places and events and exploring complex issues such as The Lasting Impact of Brief Connections, The Tension Between Exploration and Rootedness, and The Limits of Scientific Rationalism.

This guide refers to the 2024 hardcover edition published by Avid Reader Press.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of graphic violence, murder, animal cruelty, and hunting and butchering of an animal. They also mention parental death.

Plot Summary

In 1885 Paris, nine-year-old Aubry Tourvel and her sisters make a pact to sacrifice their most prized possessions at a wishing well to help someone else. However, when it is Aubry’s turn, she changes her mind, refusing to relinquish her puzzle ball. She found the ball in a park, and every time she has tried to get rid of it, it has mysteriously reappeared. Now, she believes that it is meant for her and does not wish to part with it. That night, Aubry is struck by a sickness that causes pain, convulsions, and bleeding. Her doctor cannot explain or cure the illness. Aubry runs from the doctor and discovers that her sickness recedes the more she keeps moving. To avoid the sickness, she and her mother leave Paris to travel around Europe. After a few years, knowing that she has become a burden to her exhausted mother, 12-year-old Aubry runs away to travel alone.

Aubry’s story unfolds in a nonlinear fashion. She travels across the globe several times over. She meets the Holcombes, a family on vacation in Siam (present-day Thailand), to whom she tells the story of her first days traveling alone. In this story, she carves a spear and learns to hunt, developing skills that will enable her to survive her wandering life. As she travels, her sickness speaks in her head like a sentient being, urging her on. She boards a Greek fishing boat that takes her to Egypt, where she discovers a strange library for the first time, though she will encounter it again many times in the future.

When she emerges from the strange library, she finds that she has inexplicably traveled from Alexandria, Egypt, to Tripoli in present-day Libya. There, she meets Uzair Ibn-Kadder. Uzair is a scientist who tries to cure her. He is the first man she loves, which makes his betrayal all the worse when he locks her in a room, nearly killing her because he refuses to believe that her sickness is real. A servant takes pity on her and secretly releases her.

Later, Aubry travels through Russia, where she meets Lionel Kyengi on a train to Vladivostok. They travel together for a week, falling in love, until they are forced to part when Aubry’s sickness strikes again. To her surprise, Aubry meets Lionel again 15 years later, when he is married with children but still regrets his decision not to travel with her.

Aubry also befriends a nomadic Tibetan hunter named Pathik. While staying with Pathik’s family, Aubry finds a well identical to the one she saw in Paris. Believing that this is her chance at redemption, she throws her puzzle ball into the well, hoping that it will cure her. However, she is stunned and angry when, several days later, her sickness returns, and she is forced to leave again. From there, she travels deeper into the Himalayas. When she is near death from the cold, a mysterious door appears, leading her again into the strange infinite library.

She stays in the library for many days, exploring a labyrinth of connected rooms filled with picture books that tell fantastical stories. Food and clothing magically appear as needed. When she emerges from the library, she is on the far side of the mountains and miles away. She meets an Indian prince (called “the Prince”) who gives her shelter. While there, she meets a woman named Qalima, who paints visions and offers to give Aubry a birthday wish.

Years later, now in her fifties, Aubry wanders the Alaskan frontier, where she meets Marta Arbaroa, a journalist who has followed Aubry’s trail, hoping to tell her story to the world. Marta travels with Aubry for two years, learning everything about her including the truth of the infinite library. However, they are forced to part ways in the Congo when Aubry falls into the library again.

This time, Aubry stays in the library for years, reading infinite books. During this time, she speaks with the voice of her sickness, which is proud of the sights it has shown Aubry but remorseful for the losses she has suffered. Aubry spends months drawing a picture book that tells her life story, adding it to the collection. Then, the voice thanks her for the journey and disappears.

Now an old woman, Aubry emerges from the library somewhere in the Amazon jungle. There, she meets an old man named Vincente, who has had a strange life of his own. Vincente walked to the Amazon with a group of orphaned children who inexplicably followed him until he finally stopped and made a camp in the jungle. Now, he cares for any child he finds. Aubry waits for her sickness to strike again, but it does not. One day, she sees another wishing well in the jungle. From this well, a child unearths treasures from Aubry’s travels, including the puzzle ball. For the first time, Aubry successfully opens the puzzle ball to reveal one of Qalima’s paintings folded inside. She understands that this is her sign to stop traveling because she has finally found a home.