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​​Upcoming Books:
June 18
Hilary

Overstory  - Richard Powers

July 16
Jeri Lynn

Next Year in Havana - Chanel Cleeton

August 20
Kathy Corey

What the Wind Knows  - Amy Harmon


September 17
Bo

TBA

October15
Anne

Simon the Fiddler - Paulette Jiles

November 19
Carol

The Dutch House  - Ann Patchett

January 21
Margi

TBA


Author Bio: 

Mark Sullivan is the acclaimed author of eighteen novels, including the #1 New York Times bestselling Private series, which he writes with James Patterson. Mark has received numerous awards for his writing, including the WHSmith Fresh Talent Award, and his works have been named a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. He grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts, and graduated from Hamilton College with a BA in English before working as a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa...
Visit the Author's website to read more here. 
Author Quotes: 
“The best historical novels transport the reader to another time and place so convincingly that it is like being swept away. If it’s done right, a historical novel can be an unforgettable experience, truly magical.”
Interview with Mark Sullivan author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky
Posted by M.K. Tod in Historical Fiction, Inside Historical 
BOOK REVIEW 
​
My Father’s Role in the Fall of Fascism: The True Story behind the 2017 Bestseller ‘Beneath a Scarlet Sky’
FEE Foundation for Economic Education 
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Reviews by Michael Lella
“If you were 17 and growing up in Milan, Italy, in 1943, more than likely you would have been forced, indoctrinated, and brainwashed into Fascism. The dictator of Italy responsible for it, Benito Mussolini, had been in power since 1922.”
Read More of this review at FEE Foundation for Economic Education. 

NiGHTSTAND READS - on the blog

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​The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is an important reminder for the world to remember those who were murdered, tortured and dehumanized and bore witness to the atrocities of the Holocaust  and the strength of love and the power of resilience to overcome and survive.

I recently added The House We Grew up In by Lisa Jewel and Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate to the BExtraordinaire Blog. 
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is reading Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan for May Book Club.
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Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan is based on the true story of Pino Lella, an unsung hero from Milan willing to risk his life to save others during World War II.

The story takes place during the Fascist regime between June 1943 -May 1945 in Milan, Italy and its surrounding areas. Pino is a young man desperate to help his fellow countrymen in the fight against the Nazis. His family sends him away to a Catholic Boys boarding school in the Alps mountains near the Swiss border in efforts to protect him. He is enlisted by the priest in an underground mission to take refuge seekers across the treacherous mountain passes to safety in Switzerland. The trip is full of danger: icy slopes, blizzard conditions, avalanches, bandits and Nazi patrols. His courage and skills enabled him to successfully guide many Jewish people to safety.

Here is a snippet from one of the journeys across the Alps.
“Pino collapsed in the snow, thanking God for watching over them, and praying that they’d seen the worst. But the winds picked up again, not in gusts but with steady force that drove the snowflakes into their faces like icy needles. The farther southeast they trudged, the worse the storm got, until Pino wasn’t exactly sure where he was. Of all the obstacles they’d faced since leaving Casa Alpina that morning, moving blind in a snowstorm across an open ridge was the most dangerous, at least where Pino was concerned. Pizzo Groppera was pocked with crevasses at that time of year. They could fall six meters or more into one of them and not be found until spring. Even if he could avoid the mountain’s physical dangers, with the cold and wet came the threat of hypothermia and death.”

With Pino’s 18th birthday approaching, his parents inform him he has no choice other than enlist as a German soldier. They believe by joining the Organization Todt work unit of the German Army his life would be safer. Little did they imagine, he would be chosen to be the driver of one of the most powerful Nazi generals, General Hans Leyers. General Leyers, the Plenipotentiary of the Italian Sector for Organization Todt reported directly to Hitler. Pino’s uncle, a member of the Italian Resistance sees this as an opportunity to access important information that could change the fight against the Germans. His uncle convinces him to become a spy for the Allies. Pino become a spy, known as the “Observer”.
​
I cannot wait to hear what our book club has to say about this extraordinary tale of courage. 

Mark T. Sullivan presents Beneath a Scarlet Sky New Canaan Library April 12, 2018


Pino Lella slideshow by Mandy Baldridge

Read BExtraordinaire Blog for more about books I am reading and other book club updates. ​​
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  • Home
    • BExtraordinaire Roster
    • BExtraordinaire Calendar
    • RSVP
  • Blog BExtraordinaire
  • Past Reads
    • 2020 >
      • Where the Crawdads Sing
      • Death of a Red Heroine
      • Age of Light
      • Beneath the Scarlet Sky
      • Next Year in Havana
      • What the Wind Knows
      • Simon the Fiddler
      • The Dutch House
    • 2019 >
      • Caleb's Crossing
    • 2018 >
      • Educated
      • To Have and To Have Not
    • 2017 >
      • A Gentleman in Moscow
    • 2016 >
      • The Mare
      • Fates and Furies
    • 2015 >
      • Citizens of London
      • Euphoria
      • The Blue Flower
      • Being Mortal
      • Waiting for Snow in Havana
      • All that is Solid Melts into Air
      • All the Light We Cannot See
    • 2014 >
      • On Such a Full Sea
      • A Canticle for Leibowitz
      • The Luminaries
      • The Lowland
      • Alice Munro shorts
      • The Goldfinch
      • The Round House
      • Salvage the Bones
    • 2013 >
      • The Monuments Men
      • Wild
      • The Great Fire
      • A Time of Gifts
      • Sweet Tooth
      • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
      • To the End of the Land
      • The Casual Vacancy
      • Canada
      • The Light Between Oceans
    • 2012 >
      • One Amazing Thing
      • Bossypants
      • The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
      • Rules of Civility
      • Cutting for Stone
      • Just Kids
      • Red Badge of Courage
      • Lost on Treasure Island
      • The Reluctant Fundamentalist
      • The Children's Book
    • 2011 >
      • The Cellist of Sarajevo
      • Food Rules
      • Freedom
      • Unbroken
      • The Painted Veil
      • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
      • Elegance of the Hedgehog
      • Soul Mountain
  • Highlights
    • The Complete List
  • ReaderRec