If you could never stay, where would you go? The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets The Midnight Library in this dazzlingly epic debut novel.

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 satchel that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she begins to succumb to a mysterious illness.

When a visit to a doctor only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realises that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. And so begins her incredible lifelong journey on the run from her condition.

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 she wanders, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else's...

'Gorgeous... I savoured every page of this book!'
SHELBY VAN PELT, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

About the Author
Douglas Westerbeke is a librarian who lives in Ohio and works at one of the largest libraries in the US. He has spent the last decade on the local panel of the International Dublin Literary Award, which inspired him to write his own book.

Reviews
A gorgeous ode to wanderlust... Douglas Westerbeke's dazzling debut takes readers on a thought-provoking journey through cultures and timelines...and also, through a mysterious cave-bound library. I savored every page of this book! -- SHELBY VAN PELT, bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures
A wild romping adventure, a poignant tale of relationships and interconnectedness, and a compelling journey of self-discovery. A Short Walk Through a Wide World is utterly engrossing, a world - worlds - to get lost in... every reader will find something to love * Shelf Awareness *
That rare book that immediately becomes a dear friend... beautiful... This is a novel that asks what it is to love the world, and what it is for the world to love us. A grand adventure that begs to be revisited again and again -- ERIKA SWYLER, author of The Book of Speculation and Light From Other Stars



Book Information
ISBN 9781787335011
Author Douglas Westerbeke
Format Hardback
Page Count 400
Imprint Jonathan Cape Ltd
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 750g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 156mm * 40mm