Before I Burn

In the late 1970s, a pyromaniac runs amok in a close-knit community in rural Norway. Homes are burnt to a cinder, and panic spreads, as neighbours wonder who amongst them could be wreaking such fear and anguish. And slowly, almost imperceptibly, a mother comes to realise that her son is lighting the fires.

Born into this time of chaos, Gaute Heivoll is indelibly linked to the arsonist intent on such destruction. By juxtaposing the pyromaniac's story with his own, Heivoll explores memory, loss and the agonising separation of child from parent that it is a rite of passage for us all. Written in fluid, luminous prose, Before I Burn is a literary sensation, by the foremost Norwegian writer of his generation.



Gaute Heivoll made his debut in 2002 with the prose collection

Liten dansende gutt [Small Dancing Boy], and since then has written poetry, children's books, short stories and novels. Heivoll was the recipient of the 2003 Tiden-prisen Prize. In 2006 he was the Norwegian representative to the Literary Festival Project Scritture Giovanni and his short-story "Dr. Gordeau" was translated into English, German and Italian.



One of the best Scandinavian crime books to have reached our shores



One of the best books I have ever read... [Gaute Heivoll] manages to describe the rush of setting fire to a house so well. We understand the pyromaniac's fascination for the fire and the heat ... A pyromaniac seen from the inside, and is marvellously written.



Gaute Heivoll is one of the finest voices of his generation.

Before I Burn is a glowing depiction of the darkness in an isolated human being's mind.



Gaute Heivoll's new book is great storytelling of the highest order, an existential horror story from the foremost of the young writers.



It has been an eerie pleasure to read Gaute Heivoll's thrilling novel about the pyromaniac who shook his home district in 1978.

Før jeg brenner ned shows once again that Heivoll is a key name among his generation of writers and one of the most significant in contemporary Norwegian literature. The novel has all the requisites to captivate readers and become Heivoll's definitive breakthrough.