Mark Sullivan’s Beneath a Scarlet Sky Book Club Questions and Book Review
Beneath a Scarlet Sky is an historical fiction based on the true life story of a forgotten hero. It tells the tale of a young man’s incredible courage and resilience during World War II in Italy. It is a wartime epic that brings the Second World War to life while touching everything from love to terror, compassion, revenge, courage, and heroism. Like many classics, but in its own unique way, it portrayed humanity in its richness and exposed the raw edges of the human nature. It also shows how a young teenager is forced to metamorphose into an adult; one of the many effects of war on young folks. Read on for the Beneath a Scarlet sky summary and book club questions.
AMAZON REVIEWS FOR BENEATH A SCARLET SKY
With 525 pages, Mark Sullivan keeps you fascinated and anxious to turn to the next page. As a #1 Amazon Charts Bestseller with over 38,500 reviews, it has earned a 4.7-star rating on Amazon. Of course, there are negative reviews since we all see things from different perspectives and words have a way of evoking varying emotions in different people. Yet, 81% of readers including myself delivering 5 stars earned it its rating.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky Plot Summary
Beneath a Scarlet Sky is a story about Pino Lella, a teenager who bravely saved countless lives during WW II in Italy. It covers a period of 2 years in his life from 1943 to 1945. From the start, we perceived him to be a normal teenager interested in having fun like many his age (17). Within a short period though, he is forced to shed the innocence of youth and become an alpha male, helping Jews escape over the Alps after his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs.
In the course of his journey, he reunites with a beautiful widow, Anna, who initially stood him up before his life took a turn. Six years his senior, she weaves a beautiful love story with Pino, one that singlehandedly takes the book from historical fiction to romance.
The Plot Thickens
Pino enlisted as a German soldier under pressure from his parents but gets injured and is recruited by Adolf Hitler’s Left Hand in Italy, Gen. Hans Leyers, as his personal driver upon a chance meeting. This gives Pino an opportunity to spy for the Allies from within the German High Command. He experiences and witnesses many horrors of war, from the bomb blast in Milan to personal injuries, the pain of a mother over the loss of her son, seeing a friend’s little brother blown apart by a grenade, loss of body parts, and long lines of dead bodies and yes, (spoiler alert) the death of the woman with whom he envisioned his future.
At the end of this book, there is an epilogue that tells how the lives of key characters panned out after the bloodthirsty war, the effect it had, and still has on them, and how they’ve kept going.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky Get access to this amazing, well told story on Amazon.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky Reviews from Readers
“Leaves you wishing you could read it again for the first time”. Exactly how I felt after reading this.
One reader describes it as “shocking, moving, and absolutely compelling” and I can’t say less. These words accurately depict numerous events vividly described therein. This includes Pino’s emotions as he was tormented by guilt and traumatized by various gory scenes.
Another reader who believes that books should make avid readers feel fundamentally different from how they were before reading a book describes this one as a “page turner”. In his words, “it simply demanded my attention…full of regret that the book could not simply go on longer”. Compared with classics like War and Peace, this tells a lot about Mark Sullivan’s storytelling and depiction of real life events. It leaves a lot for book club discussions. Below is a list of Beneath a Scarlet Sky book club questions.
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