Author(s): Sarah Winman

Fiction | Anna

A captivating, bighearted, richly tapestried story of people brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster, by the celebrated author of Tin Man.Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her own youth. In each other, Ulysses and Evelyn find a kindred spirit amidst the rubble of war-torn Italy, and set off on a course of events that will shape Ulysses's life for the next four decades. As Ulysses returns home to London, reimmersing himself in his crew at The Stoat and Parot--a motley mix of pub crawlers and eccentrics--he carries his time in Italy with him. And when an unexpected inheritance brings him back to where it all began, Ulysses knows better than to tempt fate, and returns to the Tuscan hills.With beautiful prose, extraordinary tenderness, and bursts of humor and light, Still Life is a sweeping portrait of unforgettable individuals who come together to make a family, and a deeply drawn celebration of beauty and love in all its forms. 

Staff notes: Irresistibly charming, Still Life by Sarah Winman is the epitome of armchair travel. It’s also the book version of my very favourite kind of physical travel: being alone in a foreign city with no itinerary, free to meander and delight in the small exotic wonders tucked around each corner. Like these meandering streets, the novel takes us on a journey from the 1940s - late 1970s and explores enduring friendships, art, history, food, wine, culture & music. There’s also a talking parrot who recites Shakespeare, just for good measure. These things are all wrapped up in an exquisite love song to Florence which will get stuck in your head and your heart and never, ever leave you. — Anna