Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan 

Narrated by Will Damron

Did the book deliver on its promise – The book was billed as being based on a true story and after listening to the audiobook I believe the book was loosely based on a true story. I think the true story was that Italians did help Jews escape the Nazi’s through the mountains and into Switzerland. I also believe the organization of this escape was organized through the church. There was no promise of a fast-paced, action-packed historical fiction, which this book was in so many ways. In my opinion this book under promised and over delivered and could be enjoyed by listeners who are not typically drawn to the historical fiction genre.

What was my personal takeaway – As I mentioned earlier, I always like to get a bit of a historical education while consuming historical fiction and I definitely did from this audiobook. The education was in a couple of ways — the first was learning about World War II from the Italian perspective, and the second was the day-to-day struggle for citizens of a country being occupied and controlled by a military force, and some of the difficult decisions that people had to make to survive.

Did the narrator help the story – When I find a narrator I like I find myself searching the Audible catalogue ‘by narrator’ rather than ‘by author’, and that was definitely the case with narrator Will Damron. Sometimes with a narrator I have never heard, it takes a few chapters before I connect, but with Will Damron, I was drawn in from his first words. He does a great job of conveying the emotion of the story, it really felt like I was watching a movie with my ears. Will Damron definitely helped the story along. I don’t think this book had slow-moving parts, but if it did they were covered by his great narration that captured the emotion and excitement of the characters and story.

Would I recommend this book – If you are new to the historical fiction genre or have tried it in the past and did not enjoy it, I would highly recommend this book as a place to re-start your journey into historical fiction. With the combination of great narration, a fast-moving story, and some unexpected twists at the end, I would highly recommend this audiobook.