Revenge

There are two stories in Redbreast that are literally decades apart. However, as the stories progress they eventually merge into one. The first story is that of a Norwegian soldier who served in trench warfare on the dangerous Eastern Front during World War II. Those soldiers who volunteered for duty and served in that capacity had backed a loser. They were on the side of the Nazis, fighting against the Russians who were part of the Allied Forces. Though some of these men joined the Nazi party, many of them had no strong political convictions; they just wanted the Russians out of Norway.

The war was brutal and cruel and the men were under constant threat of death and bodily harm or capture and imprisonment. The conditions took their toll on the young men and for one of the soldiers, the experience warped him so that...