by Jo Nesbø
First published 1999
Jo Nesbø arrives in the Balkans as NATO bombs begin falling on Serbia in March 1999. Sent by Aschehoug publishing house to document the war, he conducts intimate interviews across a region where the Austro-Hungarian Empire once met its end and Tito's Yugoslavia later fractured. For several weeks, Nesbø moves through territories torn by conflict, listening to voices caught between past and present violence. His conversations reveal how ordinary people experience extraordinary upheaval when nations collapse and new wars begin. The interviews capture raw testimony from those living through Norway's participation in an international military intervention. Nesbø presents these encounters without filters, letting speakers tell their own stories of survival, loss, and resilience. The book offers direct access to human experiences during a pivotal moment when Western forces reshaped Balkan geography through airstrikes and diplomacy.
Genres: non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, journalism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: first-hand-account, personal-narrative
Setting: Balkans, Norway, Serbia
Period: 1999
337 pages · Paperback · Aschehoug
Content warnings: war