Description
Product description
Review
‘The sheer joy in Sarah Winman’s storytelling is completely infectious. I’ve loved spending time with this unforgettable cast of characters in extraordinary times and places’ Graham Norton
‘Winman’s pages teem with boisterous, exuberant life … The novel has verve, charm and tremendous heart’ Sunday Times
‘Exquisite … There are not enough superlatives to contain the magnitude and beauty of this novel’ Sunday Independent
‘Sentence after sentence, character by character, Still Life becomes poetry’ New York Times Book Review
‘A tonic for wanderlust and a cure for loneliness. It’s that rare, affectionate novel that makes one feel grateful to have been carried along’ The Washington Post
‘Teeming with unforgettable characters and oozing atmosphere, it’s a joyous, summery ode to love, art and poetry’ Hephzibah Anderson, Mail on Sunday
‘Rich, deeply moving and filled with hope. Sarah Winman is one of the greatest storytellers of our time’ Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
‘A gorgeous, generous story of kind hearts and kindred spirits … [A] hopeful, happy, intensely humane novel’ Daily Mirror
‘Readers will want to prolong the pleasure of Sarah Winman’s beautiful novel Still Life for as long as possible’ Donal Ryan, author of From a Low and Quiet Sea
‘Embodies the full generosity of the human spirit’ Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
‘Gorgeous … luscious and clever’The Times
‘In Still Life, [Winman] emerges now as the great narrator of hope’ Helen Cullen, Irish Times
Book Description
The International Bestseller and Dymocks Book of the Year 2021
About the Author
Sarah Winman grew up in Essex and now lives in London. She attended the Weber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to act in theatre, film and television. Her first novel, When God Was a Rabbit was an international bestseller, her second A Year of Marvellous Ways was a Sunday Times bestseller and Tin Man was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award 2018.
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2021
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME
A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK
‘Sheer joy’ Graham Norton
‘Utterly beautiful … filled with hope’ Joanna Cannon, author of Three Things About Elsie
’A gorgeous, generous story of kind hearts and kindred spirits’ Daily Mirror
From the author of When God was a Rabbit and Tin Man, Still Life is a big-hearted story of the families we forge and the friendships that make us.
1944, Italy. As bombs fall around them, two strangers meet in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa and share an extraordinary evening.
Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner a 64-year-old art historian living life on her own terms. She has come to salvage paintings from the wreckage of war and relive memories of her youth when her heart was stolen by an Italian maid in a particular room with a view. Ulysses’ chance encounter with Evelyn will transform his life – and all those who love him back home in London – forever.
Uplifting, sweeping and full of unforgettable characters, Still Life is a novel about beauty, love, family and friendship.
‘THE most beautiful book … it will stay with me a long time’ Sara Cox, BBC Two’s Between the Covers
‘Extraordinary . . . my book of the year’ Liz Nugent, author of Our Little Cruelties
‘Moving, wise, poetic and funny’ Daily Mail
‘Winman’s pages teem with boisterous, exuberant life’ Sunday Times
Sunday Times bestseller 09/06/2021
CassW56 –
I grew to love this book, I didn’t want it to end. It was a slow start and I didn’t really get into it until about a third of the way through. I was encouraged to persevere and I’m so glad that I did. I fell in love with each of the characters and absolutely wanted to share in their joy of life in Firenze and the relationships with and love they had for each other.
Debbie Ryan –
Just so Good, beautifully written, characters to love and the weaving of time so effortless . One of those books to sink into and miss when finished.
Rebecca Lyons –
Instagram @Becsbookshelf_“Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Ulysses. It repositions our sight and judgement. Captures forever that which is fleeting.”The story begins in 1944 when two strangers meet in a wrecked wine cellar in a Tuscan villa. Bombs going off around them the two share an extraordinary evening together.Ulysses was a British soldier and Evelyn was an art historian who came to Italy to salvage paintings from the wreckage. While there she relives the time her heart was stolen by an Italian maid. In those years this was something not accepted by the world.Evelyn is a straight shooter and while she sees the world in black and white, yet she also see it in every shade possible. Her talk of truth and the beauty the world shaped Ulysses’s life. We follow them through the next four decades from Britain to Tuscany to Florence encompassing family, love, beautiful art, freedom and the end.
Donna B. –
You know how sometimes you keep hearing about the same book from multiple sources? This is what happened for me, so I decided to get a copy and read it. This is a very character driven novel, that spans London and Italy and a number of decades.
Astro-Scientist –
I usually don’t review books. Still Life is an exception. Sarah Winman is an exceptionally gifted writer who has created an extraordinary piece of literature. The characters, their stories, the city of Florence, its history and its art treasures, all woven into the magic tapestry of this book.