DNF @ 52%. I tried with this but I’m getting better at recognizing when something isn’t working for me and not forcing myself to keep going with it.

Why I stopped reading:
👎 The premise of this story sounded unique but it wasn’t realized in the execution. The first 25% of the book is the MC telling other people her adventure through flashbacks. There’s a lot of time skipping, glossing over details, and everything feels very much like being cornered by your tedious coworker who wants to tell you what they did on their summer holiday but embellishes sections, leaves stuff out, and won’t let you ask questions. This style continues throughout the book: poorly executed time jumps, meandering prose, massive plot holes, and nothing to hook the reader in.
👎 Characters are bland. I couldn’t connect with Aubry who felt arrogant, sarcastic, and kinda nasty most of the time. The characters she encounters on her travels are total cardboard cutouts too. There no substance to anyone in this book! The sense of time and place wasn’t sketched out either which, given the premise of global travel, was really disappointing.
👎 Dialogue was very poorly written. The conversations Aubrey had didn’t feel like two human beings speaking. I don’t think this is a comment on her isolation seeing as her conversational partners were just as stilted and obtuse as she was. I had to skim some of the dialogue because it was so badly written.
👎 Writing style is bland and simplistic making the book feel more YA than I think it’s intended to be. The storytelling is banal - there’s no excitement, no hook, no heart, and nothing to keep me reading. The book itself is overwritten and needed to be pared back.

The puzzle ball was an interesting concept but not enough to keep me reading. I hypothesize that it’s somehow related to the illness but that’s not enough for me to slog through another 200 pages. (Update: critical reviews suggest neither the puzzle ball nor the illness are explainable so glad I didn’t pin my flag to that!)

The plot doesn’t carry this, neither do the characters, and there’s certainly no vibe other than… bleak? In the hands of more adept writer, this could have been so much more. As it stands, this needed tighter editing, a more readable flow, improved characterization, and some semblance of plot. I don’t recommend this.

I was privileged to have my request to read this book accepted through NetGalley. Thanks for letting me give it a whirl, Random House UK / Vintage.

Well, what a journey, which as it turns out is pretty apt for this story. I love the bittersweet mystery of a little girl who is forced to leave her family and go out into the world and never stop moving on. There are some real highs of adventures and seeing so much that nobody else ever will, intertwined with the terrible lows of being separated from the ones you love and never being able to stay long enough to form meaningful relationships.
The colourful backdrops, cultures and characters that she meets along the way are truly magical and captivating and there are some exquisitely poignant and tear jerking moments. I also loved the thread about libraries taking you anywhere, obviously relatable as I love reading.
The feel good feeling by the end enveloped me and it left me with questions. I think this delightful, yet slightly dark, tale with stay with me for a long time to come.

This a was a beautifully written book. It was really compelling and thought provoking. I loved following the MC through her life journey. It’s a slower read but worth sticking with, I really ended up liking it. An impressive debut and can see the similarities with the likes of Addie Larue

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the ARC

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for this eCopy to review

A Short Walk Through a Wide World is an intriguing novel. One which will stay with me long after reading. Why does Aubry have to travel so much? What is her illness? What is the puzzle ball? And what is the mysterious library? Can she ever be cured? Aubry is unable to return to a place she has previously visited, we learn how she learnt how to survive and hunt as a young girl and all the people she meets. As the story progresses, you begin to realise that her world is not the same as ours. I loved how she interacts with people, but was saddened that she could not form a lasting relationship with anyone

A beautifully crafted book, but at times it was a little slow and confusing moving backwards and forwards in time

I struggled with this book right from the start. I do not normally read fantasy but the synopsis of this book sounded too good. However, it just wasn't for me. I found it difficult to relate the characters, and the constant flitting from past to present. I appreciate that others, especially those who like programmes such as Dr Who will probably love this genre. In future I think I'll leave it to them to review.

From GoodReads:
A wonderful, all encompassing, fictional travelogue fantasy adventure. Led by her mysterious disease, Aubry is forced to roam the world, never turning back, and experiencing a life like no other.
A book about wonder, spirit and goodness.

I really don’t know how to review this but here goes. The main protagonist is Aubry Tourvel, who as a 9 year old in Paris, in 1885, finds a wooden puzzle ball on the doorstep of a deceased man. Shortly thereafter, she becomes seriously ill, and doctors are unable to find the cause. The only cure seems to be to move away from home so this she does with her mother, moving on appropriately every three days. The narrative in this book is very poetic and well crafted although I did find the time-hopping a bit confusing.

Briefly, one day Aubrey realises that she has to leave her mother and without saying goodbye she starts her travels, still a young teen. She travels all the world with virtually no belongings but always with the puzzle ball. She works when she can, for food and clothing, and meets many people, telling those she gets close to the stories of her travels. She falls in love, makes special friends, faces danger, but always has to move on before the disease takes her. Her warning is blood in her mouth, followed quickly by copious bleeding and terrible pain, and there is no cure other than to keep on moving, never returning to the same place twice.

This is a strange but weirdly compelling story, I was a bit confused and nearly stopped reading at one point but I had to finish it. Aubrey is such a sad character. No real friends, no chance for any relationships, no chance to settle down - she is the epitome of a nomad. We follow Aubrey until she reaches old age and achieves some serenity in her life but I still had questions which I am sure is intentional. I found it difficult to reconcile a young girl being given such an invidious disease, as if a malevolent spirit had infected her, but no one else m why? A strange story full of magic realism and fantasy - beautiful travelogues, hidden libraries and a life with little peace. Intriguing literary fiction.

Aubry Tourvel—nine years old in 1885—lives a privileged life in Paris with older sisters, mother, and father. (From this, by the way, stems the novel's most obvious historical screw-up: for a family with the wealth of the Tourvels in 1885, the mother would never have been expected to cook household meals; they would have had servants to do this for them; yet Aubry recalls her mother's cooking more than once, making it sound as though she was the primary meal-preparer. It's not a major stumbling block, but I find with novels of this nature, one error of that kind that you notice makes you wonder what else you're missing.) Anyway, Aubry acquires a peculiar illness connected to a mysterious puzzle ball that she stole from a neighbour's garden: if she stops travelling for too long, she begins to hemorrhage. This makes her "the woman who travels": she goes all over the world, staying one step ahead of her condition (and sometimes not even that far), for decades. There are magical realist touches to this setup—enigmatic doors that all seem to lead to the same vast underground library, and which sometimes act as portals, spitting her back out into the upper world thousands of miles from her starting point; a woman named Qalima whose ability to grant wishes is both supernatural and totally unexamined. That is, of course, my main issue with magical realist touches: they are rarely examined, and that leads to a frustrating sense of so-what-ness. At the end of Aubry's life, her illness remains basically unexplained, an odd curse placed upon a child who did nothing to deserve such a difficult—if also extraordinary—life. It is hard to find meaning in it, and likewise hard not to feel that Westerbeke simply cops out of his powerful and fascinating premise.

But this is where the book, though frustrating as fiction, felt successful in a personal sort of way. I wasn't expecting this to feel as personal as it did. I am a Type I diabetic, diagnosed at three, and have been insulin-dependent for nearly thirty years. Aubry, like me, has a chronic illness. Mine is perhaps less dramatic (though apparently the symptoms of hypoglycaemia—the pallor, the cold sweats, the shaking—can be pretty disturbing to witness, and are certainly disturbing to experience). What I found very powerful were the attempts within the novel to locate a meaning for the arbitrary illness imposed upon the main character, and a strong sense that life with such a condition is partly about abandoning that search for meaning, or a cure, or a master narrative. There is no moral charge to Aubry's illness or mine: we were both little children when we first began to display symptoms, neither of us had done anything wrong or self-targeting. (Her swiping of the puzzle ball might count, but she tries to get rid of it more than once, and the illness continues to plague her; clearly, if it *is* a reprisal, it's wildly disproportionate, and our sympathies are always with her.) The difficulties forced onto a family with a chronically ill child, the emotional and financial burdens that our conditions impose, are delineated with clarity and without judgment. If the novel's ultimate message of Disability Leading To A Richer And Fuller Life Than One Could Ever Have Imagined is a little on the nose, it's counter-balanced by that clear-eyed understanding of the costs.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for a review.

This novel offers such an intriguing story with a compelling protagonist and an expansive setting. We follow Aubry Tourvel a woman who gets a mysterious disease that means she cannot stay in one place for longer than three days and must travel the world to say alive. Along the way she meets a wide range of characters and falls into many interesting and different situations.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and whilst it is pitched as similar to The invisible life of Addie LaRue I actually found myself enjoying it much more. The way the author has structured the book, with little ‘asides’ and lots of backwards and forwards seemed to enable us to get to the action immediately which I didn’t find with Addie LaRue. In fact it was much more accessible than the story its compared to.

The world is described so beautifully and intriguingly, you really feel that you’ve been to India and the Congo and the Himalayas with Aubry. In fact the whole book is a set of images in my mind, which is very fitting if you consider the beautiful libraries she finds in her travels.

The only thing that jarred slightly that I feel was a misstep on the part of the author was the fact that as a lone young woman in a wide world she was able to be so fearless. I really feel this was because a man wrote this. A man who hasn’t had to hold his keys aggressively in his hands as he dashes to his car late at night, who hasn’t been cat called for walking down a road and who hasn’t had to look over his shoulder every second of his life. He clearly has a lack of understanding of the world as it is for a woman. I appreciate that it is set in 1885 but I would have thought that might have made it more dangerous for a lone woman. He does mention rape but only once and it’s not something that worries the main character, which is totally unrealistic if you ask me. He has an argument that the vast majority of the world is kind and welcoming and she is therefore safe but that neglects the fact that one in three women have had some form of sexual assault in their lifetimes.

Overall I loved this book, and will definitely be recommending to everyone I can. I look forward to the author’s next book eagerly.

Beautifully written and engaging, I liked this book very much.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars! I knew from the blurb that I was going to enjoy this book. What a great premise for a story. I really enjoyed how this book is presented as a series of mini adventures that Aubry goes on. She meets so many interesting characters and has such vast experiences on her journey across the world. I liked that we got to see the impact these experiences had upon her and how this shaped her own growth and development throughout the story.

I liked Aubry's character, she was very tenacious in her quest to keep moving no matter the cost. This book explores what it means to love, to suffer loss and how to keep going no matter the circumstances and I thought this was done really well.

Aubry is not able to form long-term meaning full relationships and she faces times of isolation and despair, yet she grabbed every opportunity to form human connections and I found this very powerful.

The book is written well and the pacing worked well. All in all, I thought this was a great debut novel and I will definitely look out for more work by this author!

With thanks to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of the book. This is my honest review that I'm leaving voluntarily.

Despitrme being intrigued to read from the synopsis, sadly I really struggled with this book. The confusing timeline and lack of depth from any character apart from the MC made it feel a bit shallow to me.

What a treat this novel is – the writing is so engaging and descriptive, the story is almost unimportant! The travails and travels of the main character are worthy of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Delightful, teasing, fantastical and compulsive, each event and new encounter leaves you wondering whether she will stay this time. I loved the magical libraries and the final encounter is simply ingenious.

The ideas in here were absolutely fascinating. A woman can only stay in one place for three days before she starts to bleed uncontrollably and must move on, never being able to return. I get the comparisons to Addie La Rue, but this felt darker somehow, as Aubry didn't choose this life she's forced to walk. However, I really disliked the nonlinear story telling as it often threw me out of the immersive experience and left me struggling to catch up with what Aubry was doing. I also found that every other character except for Aubry really wasn't well developed. Aubry is the shining star of this, her journey and experiences made the plot very relatable in a strange, magical realist way, but everyone else fades into the background and don't really support the plot.

Intriguing premise, nice descriptions and feelings of wanderlust, but ultimately I really dislike nonlinear storytelling.

Thank you to Vintage digital and NetGalley for the pre publication digital copy of this book.
It has a really unusual plot line, with the main character Aubry having a mystery illness that prevents her staying in one place for more than a few days. She therefore spends her life travelling the world to avoid dying, she certainly went to some remote places, many of which I’ve not heard of. Aubry meets some interesting characters along the way, but of course is not able to develop any relationships with them. There is one who lasts longer by travelling with her, but I won’t give the plot away by saying more.
I really enjoyed this book except I felt it to be a little too long, about quarter way through I nearly gave up but was glad I didn’t. It reminded me a bit in parts of The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, praise indeed.
There were times it was exciting, times when it puzzled me (intentionally I’m sure), times I felt frustrated by Aubrey’s limited life due to the illness, It is mystical in places and I loved the pure magic of it.

The premise of a disease sending Audrey walking all over the world sounded like a great adventure, but the adventure is lost somewhere in the rambling narrative and detour filled plot.

This isn't a linear story. The beginning is mixed into the story and rehashed several times. And the ending came out of nowhere and felt like some other story entirely, a story I'd actually be interested in. The story rambled, jumped and stalled over itself in such a way that bogged down the story and turned an adventure into monotony. I think I'd have enjoyed it more if it had been linear.

As for Audrey, the wanderer, she started out as a spoilt, indulged child and grew into a boring adult. She was bland, beige and the only thing about her was her disease and the journey, take that away and she would have remained a spoilt childish girl. Perhaps in that way the disease did improve her.
The cast of characters she interacted with on the journey were quick glimpses of characters that often appeared cliche and vague. These side characters' stories were just flashes and never went beyond a step up for the heroine.

And the disease. What even was that? It spoke to her, directed her and attacked her. I still don't know what it was. It was interesting to start with, but when it became sentient it only became more confusing.
And the puzzle ball? Another side plot that raised more unanswered questions.

Perhaps if it had been linear story telling it would have been easier to see the plot holes and answer the questions, but as it is I've finished it frustrated and bored.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in return for this honest review.

Well, I just loved this. It’s an engrossing, enchanting and epic story that literally spans the globe, many times over.

The premise of a main character who starts to die if she stays in any one place for more than a few days, and so she decides to walk the earth for the rest of her days gives the author so much scope and he doesn’t squander any of it. The tales that Aubrey shares are mystical and exotic, fraught with danger and loneliness…and the kindness of lots of strangers. The descriptions of deserts, mountains, and jungles are rich and vivid. It’s like lots of adventures in one book, with a central theme of home and belonging, what it means and what it looks like.

There are elements of many genres in this book - historical fiction, magic realism, and fantasy are the main ones however I feel it also touches on horror in the malevolent entity of the disease stalking Aubrey round the world.

The blurb for the book says The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi and I can see the similarities but I also think this is a truly unique story.

Aubry is 9 when she first becomes ill. Her illness is mysterious, but it soon becomes obvious that if she is away from her home, she no longer feels ill. Unfortunately, her illness continues to follow her. This is until she sets off to travel the world! Aubry can't stay in the same place longer than a few days, or her illness catches up, and she becomes extremely sick. She also can't revisit a place she has travelled before.

The premise of this sounded amazing, but unfortunately, I just felt like it wasn't for me. I felt like it was maybe a little too slow paced for me. That being said, I can see it is an amazing story, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the idea of it!

It was well written and a very clever story, I just personally would have liked a bit more of a concrete ending with some more answers about Aubry.

I really wanted to like this - the idea of it was perfect but after a good start I found myself becoming disinterested. A lot happened and at the same time didn’t happen and I felt increasingly bored and even more dissatisfied by the end.

Sorry this wasn’t for me; maybe another time it would have been; the prose was beautiful.

For some reason I didnt connect very well with this book. The story follows the life of Aubry who is given a "curse" of a disease where she cannot stay in one place for longer than a few days. I really wanted to love this book after seeing so many good reviews but I found the whole story just a bit on the boring side.