Short War

It's 1973, and Jewish-American Gabriel Lazris is sixteen years old and desperately in love with Caro Ravest, a Chilean Catholic. When the pair meet at a party in Santiago, something clicks. They fall fast, but with news of growing instability in Chile spreading even faster partially thanks to Gabriel's Nixon-loving newspaper editor dad can they stay together amid political uncertainty?

Decades later, Gabriel's American-raised adult daughter Nina heads to Buenos Aires in a last-ditch effort to save her dissertation. She quickly gets sidetracked: first by a sexy professor, then by a controversial book called Guerra Eterna. A document of war and an underground classic, Guerra Eterna destabilises Nina's identity and drags Gabriel's past into the light.

'A breathtaking debut: a deeply felt portrait of youth and longing, and also a geopolitical barnburner of a story.' Dwyer Murphy, author of The Stolen Coast

'What a gift to have storytellers like Lily Meyer on the rise now.' Gina Apostol, author of La Tercera

'Any debut novelist would be gratified and delighted to pull off a compelling love story or a propulsive mystery or a tangled multi-generational family drama or a devastating political and historical novel but somehow Lily Meyer manages to do all of that.' Chris Bachelder, author of The Throwback Special

'A stellar roller-coaster of a debut.' Megan McDowell, translator of Samanta Schweblin's Seven Empty Houses

'[Short War] opens in Santiago, Chile, with a lovely, eerie assuredness, a moment like an incantation.' New York Times

'A slow burn that absolutely ignites as the author deftly interweaves history, politics, and family.' Kirkus