Short War

Critic and translator Meyer’s stimulating debut has the scope of a saga, but delivers its insights and resonance via three distilled novella-length sections. In 1973 Chile, against the backdrop of antisocialist demonstrations and attempts to overthrow President Salvador Allende, American teenager Gabriel Lazris falls head over heels for a Chilean girl named Caro Ravest. They’re both 16, and their star-crossed romance becomes complicated when Gabriel’s father (whom his son suspects of working for the CIA) announces they’ll be returning to the U.S. for their safety and Gabriel learns Caro is pregnant. In 2015, Nina, a 28-year-old American graduate student doing a semester in Argentina, feels an immediate chemistry with an Argentinian named Ilan. Their instant sexual attraction mirrors that of Gabriel and Caro, and it turns out Nina is Gabriel’s daughter. Nina’s academic research is undermined as she drifts into an affair with Ilan and throws her remaining energy into learning more about the turmoil her father lived through in the lead-up to Pinochet’s coup. In the third and shortest section, a new character ties together many of the threads. Meyer finds an admirable balance between the significant historical context and the individual characters’ drama. This well-honed novel humanizes an enduring nightmare of failed democracy. Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Co. (Apr.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the character Nina’s age and mischaracterized her father’s experiences of the 1973 coup.