Open Book Club featured author Mark Sullivan shows Seeley-Swan High School junior Kyle Pelletier how to autograph a book. Prior to Sullivan's presentation, Kyle gave such an earnest recitation of the poem he had written, entitled "Mother," that the noted author figured Kyle might have some autographing in his future.
SEELEY LAKE – On the brink of suicide, author Mark Sullivan pulled himself back and instead prayed to find a story to write, one that had purpose, one that could consume him and give his own life meaning. That same evening a stranger told him about Pino Lella, an Italian teenager during World War II who not only helped Jews flee across the Alps to safety in Switzerland but fortuitously found himself in a position to spy on one of Hitler's most powerful commanders. And the best part – Lella was still alive.
After 10 years of extensive interviews and even more extensive research, Sullivan converted Lella's story into the novel "Beneath the Scarlet Sky." On Saturday, May 12, under the sponsorship of Alpine Artisan's Open Book Club, Sullivan brought the tale to more than 40 audience members at the Grizzly Claw Trading Co. in Seeley Lake.
According to Sullivan, Lella did not think of himself as a hero and tended to minimize his exploits. Over a three-week period, Sullivan probed deeper and deeper.
As Sullivan expressed it, "I go on this emotional odyssey with this 78-year-old man who had never told this story to anyone in full. By the time he's halfway through, what he's said he goes through as a 17-year-old makes everything I've experienced pale in comparison."
Sullivan said he left Italy personally transformed and determined to broadcast Lella's story to as many people as possible. The success of "Beneath the Scarlet Sky" attests to the fulfillment of that promise. He is also exploring film and/or mini-series options.
Though many in the Open Book Club audience had already read the book, Sullivan's reading of three excerpts, the additional information he supplied as background and his answers to questions posed by the audience enriched the novel. One of the things he shared was a serendipitous meeting on a train with a stranger who overhead his conversation with Lella and gave him names, phone numbers and addresses that provided him with invaluable research contacts. Another was the Italian taxi driver who declared Tom Holland of Spiderman fame would be the perfect actor to play the part of Lella in the movie.
Sullivan related a conversation he later had with the woman he has partnered with to advance the film version. Though she had no knowledge of the taxi incident, she told Sullivan that Holland had read the novel and "he thinks it's the best thing he has ever read and he wants to play it."
Among the questions asked by the audience, one concerned the novel's classification as historical fiction since Sullivan spent so much time and effort researching details and interviewing Lella and others. Sullivan replied that originally his intention was to write a purely historical book but he became frustrated because so many of the people involved were no longer alive and because so many documents had been destroyed on Hitler's orders. Eventually Sullivan realized he was going to have to fictionalize some of the missing parts of the story.
Sullivan said, "Once I accepted that, I was free to follow the truth of the story. I know that sounds odd, but non-fiction accounts have to do with facts. Fiction has to do with truth, and a specific form of the truth, which is emotional truth. I said to myself what's paramount is that the reader go on the same emotional journey that I went on. The same journey that changed me, from an emotional standpoint. That was the challenge I set out for myself. And that's why I believe the book has done so well."
Another audience member asked if Pino Lella was still alive. Sullivan replied not only is Lella still alive, he is "physically unbelievable - he still rides a mountain bike at age 92."
The next Open Book Club author presentation June 9, 7 p.m., will feature Valerie Hemingway and her book "Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways."
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