Book Review: Beneath A Scarlet Sky

 

Title: Beneath a Scarlett Sky 

Author: Mark Sullivan 

Blurb: Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazi's. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food and girls - but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins and underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. 

In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier - a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler's left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich's most mysterious and powerful commanders. 

Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share. 

Have you ever wandered around a library, not sure on what type of book you fancy reading and wishing a good book would literally jump out at you? Well that is exactly what happen to me with this book. I had wandered aimlessly for 20 minutes with nothing really catching my eye and then all of a sudden this book stuck out in front of me with it's bright red cover and I was instantly drawn to it. 

Plot 

I've said this before but I love reading books that are based on true stories and this one has to be one of the most incredible true stories I've read. I believe everyone who lived during WWII had astonishing stories to tell, no matter what their role in the war was. But this is one of those tales where I sat there gobsmacked at how so much could happen to one person. 

At the beginning of the story, Pino Lella is just a fifteen year old Italian teenager living a very normal life and it's hard to imagine how this naive young boy could take on the role outlined in the blurb above. But by the end of the book I felt like I was reading about a fully-grown adult and had read about a lifetime of stories when in actual fact he ended the book as an eighteen year old and I'd only read about three years of his incredible life. 

There's no holding back with this story. It gets straight into the action almost immediately and it doesn't ever waver in pace or urgency. It also does not shy away from the honesty and brutality of war. Mark Sullivan's descriptions of the bombings in Italy and the horrors that the Italian civilians had to endure are poignant and heartbreaking and yet you also get the sense of resilience and strength in his tellings of the resistance and the risks the locals would take to fight back. I felt so many different emotions throughout this book.

The end of this story had me on the verge of tears and made me wonder how or even if Mark Sullivan managed to listen to this story being told first hand by Pino Lella himself and hadn't broken down and cried. 

Characters

The thing to always bear in mind when reading these types of novels is that the characters are real people and the stories told are those people's lives put into words. I always try and keep this in mind when reading and writing these types of reviews. Pino Lella and his family in my opinion are nothing less than remarkable. When you write about fictional characters, the challenge is to make them seem as real and relatable as possible. I think when writing stories of real life people, the challenge can sometimes be the same. You want to remind the reader that everything happening to the people they're reading about happened in real life, and at the same time, respecting the people you're writing about and their feelings - in other words, to not over dramatise things for the sake of the novel. I think Sullivan did all of these characters justice. Even the enemies, like General Leyers, were written in a way that kept me intrigued but just enough as to not take away from the very real role he played in the war. 

As well as telling the stories of Pino and his family and friends, this book also feature huge figures such as Benito Mussolini, his mistress Claretta Pettaci, Formula 1 driver Alberto Ascarsi and Cardinal Schuster. 

What I really loved, was the last chapter in this book titled 'Aftermath'. I love researching the people I've read about afterwards to find out what happened to them and Sullivan does this for you and explains how each of the main character's lives transpired after the war. I think this was a brilliant touch to end the book. It was lovely after reading all the horrors that Pino faced during the war, to find out how his life turned out after because by the end I felt attached to him somehow, like I wanted only good things for him. 

Writing Style

As much as the plot kicks off straight away, I won't deny that I found the writing style a little difficult to engage with at first. For the first two or three chapters at least I found the dialogue very stifled. There was a lot of "he said, she said" after every character spoke and for me it is true what they say, too much of this does tend to break the spell for me of being trapped in the book which was a bit frustrating. I was worried this was going to happen the whole way through the book but actually, it didn't. I'm not sure if it just took Sullivan a little while to get into the writing rhythm but soon after I notice this stopped and the dialogue flowed much easier and was much more enjoyable to read. So if you feel the same way I would recommend pushing through because the book is so worth it. 

I also however I think it is obvious when reading this book that Sullivan is far better with descriptive writing than he is dialogue. There were times when I was right there with the characters feeling their pain, their fear, their desperation. I could have been stood in the centre of Milan or high in the Alps or by the side of Lake Como. 

Book Cover: 

When I read the blurb initially I couldn't really see how the cover or even the title really matched the book. I understood how maybe bombing and explosions could caused a scarlet sky but I didn't really understand the mountains. Having read the book, I do now understand and clearly the fiery red did the trick because in a library full of books, I was compelled to pick up this one. It's deep, dark and mysterious and that is what the war was like for Pino. 

 

Overall Conclusion:

This book had me gasping in shock, gaping in bewilderment and close to tears with sadness. But it was one of the best books I can say that I've read this year and I'm quite sad that I have to return it to the library on Monday. If you love true war stories and you're looking for one that will give you a real and unbelievable wartime adventure you won't be disappointed. 

Review Summary: 

Plot  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Writing Style ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book Cover: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2  (4.5 stars)