scijessreads

A Short Walk Through a Wide World was an unexpected journey in discovering what it means to live, to move, and to be in the world. It is a tale of the stories we make, and the stories that make us.

There is magic in the story of Aubry Tourvel. Magic and desperation and a realization of what it means to survive compared to what it means to live. Being forced to travel the world, to never stay still, and be able to put down roots in any single place or any single person, Aubry must instead figure out how to live with a sickness that forces her to constantly travel the world. In her wanderings throughout the world, she meets people, falls in love, and tells pieces of her story to those who cross her path. But her only constant companion is the illness that is using her to see everything and the libraries that pop up just when she needs them most.

Aubry’s story slips in and out of time, going forward and backward in her journey and highlighting some of the events and people that she meets along the way. The entire book feels like you’re reading a lucid dream, with vivid imagery and a slow-building ache of loneliness. For Aubry, mostly, but also for the idea that there is so much in the world we do not see in our lives, that so much of the world is only known to those who experience that singular moment.

If anything, this book is a love letter to stories. To life. To be able to see that what you experience is your story and that it is worth it for however long you get to live in the world.

I was fortunate to read this as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own. Expected publication date is April 2, 2024.