Short Walk Through a Wide World

IF YOU COULD NEVER STAY, WHERE WOULD YOU GO?

Escape into this spellbinding novel of adventure, wonder and self-discovery, for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Midnight Library and Life of Pi.

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 starts 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. So begins her incredible lifelong journey around the world . . .

From scorched sand dunes to snow-packed mountain peaks, 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 it soon becomes clear that the world she travels through is not quite the same as everyone else’s.

*LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2025*
*As seen on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show Book Club*

‘Adventure, beauty, danger . . . a fantastical fable’
NEW YORK TIMES

‘Extraordinary . . . Welcome to [Aubry’s] exciting, dangerous and romantic life’
OPRAH DAILY

READERS LOVE A SHORT WALK:
‘This book is incredible’
‘I loved every page of it . . . you just cannot put the book down’
‘A perfect read . . . Aubry is a marvellous character’
‘A true love letter to travel, adventure and discovery . . . fantastic’
‘Wow, what a stunning book!’
‘Beautifully written . . . I loved following her journey’
‘A unique blend of adventure and fantasy . . . the world-building is nothing short of amazing’
‘I just couldn’t stop reading . . . inspiring’