Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel

This book was set in Italy in the last 2 years of WW2. It tells the story of a young Italian boy's fight against the Nazi invasion of Italy, it is a story of incredible bravery in one so young and gives an insight into the terror of living in an occupied city. Alongside the story of Pino Lella's heroic actions unfolds a love story showing that life goes on even under oppression. Our group all agreed this was an enjoyable book with the mix of fact and fiction teaching us a lot about life in Italy during the war at the same time as involving us in the personal lives of our hero and his family, friends and Nazi employer. It is difficult to know how much of the book is fact and how much is fiction but the historical events are correct and in the end it didn't matter as it was a page turner either way. As a group we graded it 8.5 out of 10.