May 3, 2017
BENEATH A SCARLET SKY, Mark Sullivan’s highly anticipated new novel, is based on the true story of Pino Lella, who, during World War II, risked his life guiding Jews across the Alps into Switzerland, became a spy inside the German High Command, and fell in love with a woman who would haunt him for the rest of his life. In this interview, Sullivan talks about the emotional conversations he had with Pino, who ultimately was forced to choose between life and love; why historians have taken to calling Italy “The Forgotten Front”; the lessons that James Patterson (with whom he co-authors the Private series) has taught him about writing fiction; and how a chance encounter at a dinner party and his eventual friendship with Pino literally saved his life.
