In Case I Die in War

How do you go on living after armed conflict? How do you gather the pieces and rebuild your life—and the lives of those you love?

At dawn, the track fills with veterans who have already endured the wear and tear of life. The routine repeats day after day. As they run, the world keeps turning, each person lost in their own private universe. Pablo moves back and forth in time from the moment he hears the blast of a landmine deep in the jungles of Urabá. Memories flood in: Estefanía, running through forbidden trails with her cousins. His father, Aníbal, trying to keep pace with the aging athletes. His mother, Ligia, always waiting with a kiss and a hot meal. And Pereira, his brother-in-arms, who longs to escape the war’s web but becomes ever more entangled in it.

Pablo must find a way to rebuild his life, to give it meaning after having looked death in the face. So must Aníbal, Ligia, and the narrator—a writer on the threshold of old age. Together, they search for a way to live again, carrying with them the harrowing weight of combat. A quietly powerful novel, In Case I Die in War stands as one of the first works of Colombia’s post-conflict literature.