This deeply personal story revolves around the short life of Jack Clifford "Cliff" Carpenter, a pioneer Australian aviator who designed and built his first aeroplane as a teenager. At the young age of twenty-eight, Cliff was one of the first Allied soldiers to lose his life in the defense of Norway on the day of the German invasion. His death left behind a grieving mother and father, a brother, two sisters, and an enduring family legacy that can never be healed. In A Very Short War, Cliff's nephew explores, through retracing his uncle's steps, not only who his uncle was but also how his death - just one out of the fourteen-million deaths that occurred - has affected and continues to affect so many lives both at home and abroad more than half a century later.