The Redbreast
British first edition cover
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| Author | Jo Nesbø |
|---|---|
| Original title | Rødstrupe |
| Translator | Don Bartlett |
| Country | Norway (one episode in South Africa and one in Austria) |
| Language | Norwegian |
| Series | Harry Hole, #3 |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Harvill Secker |
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Publication date
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2000 |
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Published in English
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September 2006 |
| Media type | Print (hard and paperback) |
| Pages | 450 pp (Eng. hardback trans.) |
| ISBN | (Eng. trans.) |
| OCLC | 67375284 |
| Preceded by | The Cockroaches |
| Followed by | Nemesis |
The Redbreast (Norwegian: Rødstrupe, 2000) is a crime novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, the third in the Harry Hole series (although the first in the series to be available in English).
The novel begins during former President Clinton's visit to Norway, where Harry reluctantly ends up playing an important role. Ramifications of the mission Harry is tasked with lead to him investigating neo-Nazi activity in Norway, and delving into a crime that has its roots in the battlefields of the Eastern Front of World War II.
A large part of the book is laid at the time of the Second World War – specifically, the Siege of Leningrad, wartime Vienna and the Bombing of Hamburg – making The Redbreast a war novel as well as a crime novel. The book touches deeply on the still highly sensitive issue of Norwegian Collaboration with the Nazis and specifically the voluntary recruitment of Norwegians to the Waffen SS.
The novel was voted Best Norwegian Crime Novel ever. Upon translation into English, by Don Bartlett, the novel was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie International Dagger.
The novel begins with a reference to a fable about how the robin first got the red feathers on its breast, when one of their number removed a thorn from the brow of the "crucified one" and drops of blood landed on the breast of the small bird.
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Wikipedia