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Still Life

A Novel

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Still Life

Written by: Sarah Winman
Narrated by: Sarah Winman
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About this listen

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | A Veranda Magazine Book Club Pick

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, re-immersing 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.

©2021 Sarah Winman (P)2021 Penguin Audio
20th Century Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Italy War Witty
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What the critics say

Winner of the InWords Literary Award

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick

A Veranda Magazine Book Club Pick

A Parade Best Book of the Year

One of:

The Millions's Most Anticipated Books of 2021

Bookbub's The Best Historical Fiction to Read This Fall

Parade’s 25 Books We’ve Loved Reading This Fall

Parade's Best Book of the Year

Veranda's 25 Best New Books for Fall 2021

Lit Hub’s Best Books of the Week November

"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. Unfurling with no more hurry than a Saturday night among old friends, the story celebrates the myriad ways love is expressed and families are formed….Endlessly charming...The novel never feels anything less than captivating because Winman creates such a flawless illusion of spontaneity, an atmosphere capable of sustaining these characters’ macabre wit, comedy of manners and poignant longing." —The Washington Post

“The incredible storytelling, lovable characters, and sweeping settings make this novel an absolute delight, proving that serious fiction does not have to be only dark and depressing.” —Real Simple

“Sarah Winman’s sweeping Still Life is a parade of small stories, intimate connections and complex characters whose lives illuminate the tedium and cataclysms of the 20th century. . . . The real magic of Still Life is the elevation of the ordinary, the unabashed consecration of human experiences. . . . Sentence after sentence, character by character, Still Life becomes poetry.” —New York Times Book Review

What listeners say about Still Life

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Simply gorgeous

A beautifully written character-driven celebration of art and beauty and friendship and love and life and the stages of life...and Florence. Stunning.

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Beautiful novel

This is a touching and beautifully written novel. The characters are deep and relatable. The narration is flawless. I was sorry when this lovely story of love and friendship came to a close.

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Loved it

Wonderful characters and brilliant dialogue. Beautiful nuanced narration. You don't often get narration by the author to be so good.

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A beautifully written book

This is a book that demands your attention. There are many beautiful details and the narration is excellent. I think I will buy the book so I can read it slowly without distraction

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Very Beautiful Story

This is the kind of book I need for a very mellow mood. The character of Cressey became like a friend. The style of writing focuses tightly on particular events then pull back to allow years to pass with just enough detail to keep you invested. I love the quirky parts and found myself suddenly alert when a life truth was shared and you realized some truths for your own life.

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By far my favourite listen in a long while

This story is beautiful and the characters are vivid and lovely and real. Sarah Winman is brilliant as narrator. This is a classic.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Many story lines split and re-converge

The author reads her book with wit and clarity. She has a gift for accents and gives each character their own voice. The story starts in Italy during the second world war, art historian and soldier characters interact, the war ends and then we follow one soldier to London. His life and the unique characters around him over the next few decades are explored in a non-judgmental and compassionate manner. Midway thru the book, he and several others move to Florence and ultimately connect with the art historian.
I found the storyline wandered and was confused as to how all these disparate people in far away places were going to come together, But the characters, the places, the interactions among them, were all so exquisitely written that I was compelled to keep on reading. The ending is sublime and deeply satisfying. If you have ever been to Italy, to Florence in particular, you will truly engage with this story. Two thumbs up.

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