Beneath a Scarlet Sky

I never read this kind of book..but have challenged myself to explore reading outside my wheelhouse.The story of Pino Lella was heartbreaking as well thoughtful.I cried more than once for the the tragedy and ugliness of war .The brutal consequences.I only suggest reading.. it if you are ready to know..in.a visceral way how inhumane war is and how being right is never a clear choice.I will not spoil the plot of this book.I don't know if I'd have read it..if I'd known.But I know I'm glad I did.The writing is beautiful and well paced.

I cannot any enough about this book. One of the best by far. Listened to Nessun Dorma several times while reading the accounts of Pink and Anna. Unfortunately I knew how it was to end. Tears followed.

I love reading and learning about world war 2. This is such a good read!! Great for history fanatics!! Highly recommend!

Bought this for my wife and she absolutely loved the book.

This was a historically significant Nobel which enlightens what Italian life was like even though Italy was on Germany’s side in WW2. It reminds us all of the German atrocities committed against not just Jews but other prisoners as well. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This book is so well written it is hard to put down. An amazing part of history from the “other” side of WW2, Italy. I highly recommend it and the audio version!! It provides the emotional feelings of excitement, joy, courage, sorrow and tears of a time that should never be forgotten.

A very moving story about the unsung hero, Giuseppe "Pino" Lella. So much accomplished and experienced by such a young man. Loved this book!

I found this tale to be a reverent representation of the trials one can face in extreme circumstances and come out on the other side without losing one's faith in humanity.

An amazing story, written so beautifully! I absolutely Loved this book!! I have referred this book to everyone I know!! It is one of the best books I have ever read!

I didn't know what to expect when I started this book. It started slow, but quickly ignored to something that could not be put down. Despite being a work of some fiction, it was an incredible story of strength. It was wonderfully told and full of emotion.

What an amazing book, I was hooked from the beginning. Such a sad part of history for so many innocent people, thank God for people like Pino willing to risk their lives to save as many people as possible. This story will stay with me forever.

This story was riveting and emotional. World War 2 in the Italian front was never something I had heard of. I cried for Pino's sorrows and rejoiced for his victories.

Everyone should read this book. It tells of WW2 in one of the most unforgettable story. I was overcome with emotion many times while reading this story of Pino and Milo, hero’s of Italy.

I thought I had studied all of WWII, yet this book gave me a wonderful look at Italy, and a part of the war that seems to have been very under reported. It is a book of love, and tragedy, bravery and intrigue, danger and heartache. And it is all based on a true life person…how cool is that?!?!! This was a really great read!

This is a well researched novel about WWII in Italy. I couldn't put this down, as there was intrigue, mystery, romance and war. The POV was a young man who told of his involvement with high ranking Germans, clergymen who aided Jews and finally American forces. I would not have read this book if not for Kindle Unlimited and I am so glad I read it.

because this is a true story, obviously the author did not have much liberties in the plot. He does develop some wonderful characteristics to go with these real humans stories. I think at the end of the day personally I just don’t love stories about war, and this one definitely dives into the heart of World War II

This is one of the best historical fiction books that is really nonfiction because it is based on true accounts of real people. The research done for this is detailed and intense. It’s like you can relive the moments in the book because of the descriptive writing. It kept me up at night because I couldn’t wait to read more.

It took me until about page 200 to really get into the story, but after that, I couldn’t put it down!

I am really tired of reading stories about Nazis and their brutality, but I kept seeing this book recommended, so I read it. I'm glad I did. I have read another book by Sullivan and found both to be very well-written and researched. His writing just flows with his vivid descriptions and action-filled scenes. I knew almost nothing about the Italian resistance, so I learned a lot. I kept looking up various places and people he mentioned in the book, and knowing that these were real people just added to the story's readability. It is sad in several parts because it had to be but is also hopeful that good people will only take tyranny so long. I'm glad the protagonist finally got his questions answered, and this information is provided in the author's notes after the book. I appreciate the author providing so much information at the end.

The Preface is enough to still your speeding modern mind to get how this author needs to fill you in on the circumstances about his life when the tattered outline of this odyssey was shown to him & how researching this true-to-life memoir swallowed him whole & saved his own life.In 1944 the hero of this tale was on the brink of manhood, ready to leave school & get on w/his life when the German army finally invaded his home town & their lives, their law & order, their ruler Il Duce & everyone's dreams & hopes came to a standstill.Caught between the proverbial rock & hard place, ordinary working Milanese & their children were waiting the stalled Allied advance north from Sicily as told over forbidden wirelesses via the BBC. They were also learning how to survive when Nazis & their attending Wermacht Army rolled in & co-opted all living places, food & supplies. Along with all the dramas in hotels & apartments with mistresses & maids, parents & siblings there were the ever-present spies & collaborators.This is a novel recounting the truly remembered adventures & feelings of teenager Pino Lella as told by the 90+ year-old survivor of those last 2 crazy years of The War when he was young, healthy, a brilliant skier & mountain climber who then had to enlist only to get wounded on his first foray & while on medical leave Fate chose him to become a German general's driver in a world gone mad as the Allies pounded their way north forcing the Germans into a destructive retreat.This was an all-round rousing read: held my breath a lot; chuckled some & wept up a storm. I have a feeling this will be Mark Sullivan's best-remembered tale cuz he brings Pino Lella to life in a poetic, heroic fashion; a lad in love w/music, cars & girls who gets to hear the most sorrowful of dirges & the most uplifting of arias; he falls in love w/a fleeting stranger & then starts mid-winter mountain climbing & skiing to take city Jews to freedom, & the music follows him there too. He learns to drive his car mechanic friend's loaner Italian autos; his heart breaks as he watches his family & friends struggle & his city crumble & his life tumble into a pit of despair.The real adventure is that in his travels with his general Fate is giving him all the information he needs to pass on via his uncle to Partisans up in the mountains who harass & confound the invaders at the end of their tether, resources & reign.On these travels all over northern Italy Pino bears witness to hidden tunnels filled with a host of grey ghost slaves preparing underground factories, munitions dumps & wonders for which he has no names, all of which he will pass on once back in Milan. All one breathless blink from discovery.It was hard enough being in the company of a German general who praised his work, his mastery of the automobile, who trusted his translations of Italian into French it was, however, far worse watching his compatriots scrabble to survive, always endangered & his lifetime friends shunning him as a coward for not picking up a weapon.This young man must have burned out his adrenal glands well B4 he was 19 while guiding Italian Jews over the Alps to freedom & then still a year-and-a-half B4 VE Day go on, never sleeping regularly, the emotional roller-coaster never stopping: finding courage, seduced by excitement, warned by memories of horrific slaughters... & then he meets the maid to his general's mistress & that first love becomes his sacred oasis of music & joy & sensuality as the pace of his general's inspections as the Allies & Germans battle over his homeland demolishing untold castles on hills, ancient cities & monasteries filled with great art.In that final Spring of The War a fever overtakes everyone: the sights, sounds, smells, tastes of war fill Pino up as his general orders repeated drives to one particular place on the border along the Brenner Pass into Austria & Pino suspects his general is shipping gold bars out for his escape.The End of this fine saga reaches its climax amid mis-information & bad timing. All falls B4 Pino's eyes & his heart & spirit are broken when he learns he has been played by both sides: his general & his country.I'm so glad Sullivan gave us an update as to where everyone we met were by the turn of this century cuz it leaves the reader knowing an eager beaver of a spirit had not worked in vain, had grown immeasurably & gone on to live as ordinary life as anyone who lived thru such times could.A profoundly validating account of one teenager's Coming of Age in a Time of War.I was thrilled, entranced, filled with amore & doused with sorrow & all through I could hear the music to Pino Lello's life. This one's a keeper, very well done!