Welcome to the Debut Author Book Club, a collaboration between Palmyra Public Library and Book Bar. For April, the selected book is A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke (book description is located at the bottom of this listing).
So come out, grab a drink at Book Bar's beverage bar, and join us for a lively book discussion! When you purchase this book club pick from Book Bar or borrow it from the Palmyra Public Library, your support will help us be here for a long time and put on more events!
Purchasing options from Book Bar are below:
In Store: Stop by our location at 50 N. Railroad St. in Palmyra, PA!
Shipped: To purchase from Bookshop and get it delivered straight to your door, order from the following link (If you purchase here, we will receive a percentage of this sale):
https://bookshop.org/a/98905/9781668026076
Ebook: Bookshop now offers Ebooks for indie booksellers. Find it here (we will receive a percentage of this sale): https://bookshop.org/a/98905/9781668026083
Audiobook: You can purchase audiobooks from us on Libro.fm. This audiobook can be easily found on our Apr 2026 Book Club Picks playlist here (we will receive a percentage of this sale):
https://libro.fm/playlists/11529?bookstore=bookbarus
We look forward to seeing you!
Book Description:
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 backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death.
When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days—nor return to a place where she’s already been.
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 Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s...
Fiercely independent and hopeful, yet full of longing, Aubry Tourvel is an unforgettable character fighting her way through a world of wonders to find a place she can call home. A spellbinding and inspiring story about discovering meaning in a life that seems otherwise impossible, A Short Walk Through a Wide World reminds us that it’s not the destination, but rather the journey—no matter how long it lasts—that makes us who we are.