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Still Life

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About this listen

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF DYMOCKS BOOK OF THE YEAR
A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2021
A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK
WINNER OF THE INWORDS LITERARY AWARD

‘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

 20th Century Art Biographical Fiction Europe Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Italy Literary Fiction Heartfelt Feel-Good War

Critic reviews

‘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

All stars
Most relevant
A lovely story about love and the beauty of Florence and its ability to stir the passions. A touch of A Room With A View woven in

A gentle story of love and Florence

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This is the third time I have read this novel. It is a fabulous book with wonderful characters.
If you love life, art and culture this is the book for you.

A Beautifully intoxicating novel.

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This is one you will read and recommend to everyone you know. Just a lovely story with characters that are really brought to life. Thankfully, not really about artworks, so persevere beyond the first couple of chapters.

A. Fabulous story

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I absolutely loved listening to this story. Read by the author, she brings every character to life as only she truly can. Each character’s thread is woven together to create this beautiful, warm tapestry of enduring love, friendships, mistakes, history, art and fun.

Each character is believable and all characters work together to form a friendship group and extended family that we can all relate to; even Claude!

We’re taken from a London pub with a tree full of wisdom in its deep roots to Italy where a cobbled together family flourishes. They cope with natural disaster, death and love in all its forms; unrequited, complex, teenage and old age as the years gently flow by. Friendships are lost and re-discovered along the way to culminate in a heart-warming gathering of minds and cultures.

I didn’t want this story to end. It’s beauty struck me from the first chapter and didn’t fail me to the final page. Huge appreciation to the author who has constructed this deeply moving story.

The

Warm, Flowing, Human Story

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Exquisite prose. Characterful narration. Delightfully uplifting. Claude the parrot was perhaps the most ingenious character ever. Can’t recommend enough!

Definitely the best listen this year!

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