Goodbye To The President

On 11 September 1973, Chile’s President Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. The president took refuge in the palace La Moneda, which was bombed by the air force and assaulted by troops. Overwhelmed, the defenders surrendered. In the smouldering ruins Allende lay dead.

‘Goodbye To The President’ is a novel which vividly recounts the terrors of the coup and its brutal aftermath. Years later Pinochet is arrested in London. Although the former dictator is released and returns to Chile, he dies broken and disgraced.

‘Goodbye To The President’ is a unique testament to the victims who perished during the coup and also to those who, against all odds, managed to survive.

‘…an intriguing new talent.’ William Dalrymple

Justin Kerr-Smiley is also the author of ‘Under The Sun’. The Sunday Telegraph called it ‘a small masterpiece’. Publishers Weekly described it as ‘an accomplished literary war novel’.