From the Bench

The Honorable David N. Martin has been an Associate District Judge in Oklahoma since 1990.  As a friend of the library he occasionally reads and reviews our new books.  Below is Judge Martin’s review of Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.

Beneath A Scarlet Sky

Do you need a good book to keep your thoughts off the weather and the events at the State Capitol?  My favorite librarian selected Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.  She said this is a “good read” for bad weather.  For the first seventy-five pages I thought she had steered me wrong.  But after I persevered, I learned she was right.  I enjoyed the book and I couldn’t put it down at the end of the day.

Pino Lella is a typical seventeen-year-old Italian teenager in Milan in 1943.  He ignores the war and the Nazi soldiers, but all that changes when the Allies start bombing German munitions factories and destroy his home.  He then relocates to an Alpine boys school and begins to serve as a guide for the underground railroad for escaping Jews.  The story takes an unexpected twist when our hero’s parents insist he enlist in the German Army.  He becomes a personal driver for General Leyers and also begins his career as a spy.

Throw in a love interest with an older widow and more close shaves than a Gillette razor and you’ve got a whiz bang novel to drive away the gloom.  It has a surprising twist at the end, so pay close attention to the minor characters.  A good book helps us escape our troubles and count our blessings.  This book will do both and is available at the best place in town — our Okemah Public Library.

Happy reading!

Judge Martin