Jarle Klepp, 35 years old, is about to witness the biggest moment in his life: The reunion of The Smiths on stage. But just before the outdoors concert is about to start, he has to go to the loo. Hurrying back towards the crowd, he sees a young couple having sex in the woods. The shock when he realises it is his own 17-year-old-daughter, Lotte, having sex with a black man, puts him completely off balance. How can he, Jarle, an outspoken anti-racist, free-thinking intellectual deal with this sight?

And the night has only just begun. What was meant to be a joyful summer’s night and Jarle’s grand breakthrough as a music journalist soon develops into a wild race through the streets of Oslo where Jarle fights against his own unexpected – and to himself totally unacceptable, but no less real – racist feelings and realises he has to win back his daughter’s trust at any price. At the same time, his old friend Helge has an existential crisis and needs his friendship more than ever. Realising his love for the people around him is stronger than all his ambitions and rationalisations; Jarle is thrown into a night that will mark his life forever.

In a fast paced, tight and heart-wrenching novel, Renberg takes the reader on a journey to the most private and embarrassing corners of a young man’s mind, and shows us how a single man’s outlook on life can change dramatically in only a few hours.

Pixley Mapogo is the fourth book about Jarle Klepp.