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Still Life by Sarah Winman

Historical fiction

Still Life

by Sarah Winman

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Quick take

As the end of WWII nears, an art historian (and maybe spy) forges a rare and impactful friendship with a young soldier.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, 400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Slow_Build

    Slow build

  • Illustrated icon, International

    International

  • Illustrated icon, No_Quotes

    No quotation marks

Synopsis

It’s 1944 and in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa, as the Allied troops advance and bombs fall around them, two strangers meet and share an extraordinary evening together.

Ulysses Temper is a young British solider and one-time globe-maker, Evelyn Skinner is a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy. She has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and relive her memories of the time she encountered EM Forster and had her heart stolen by an Italian maid in a particular Florentine room with a view.

These two unlikely people find kindred spirits in each other, and Evelyn’s talk of truth and beauty plants a seed in Ulysses mind that will shape the trajectory of his life—and of those who love him—for the next four decades.

Moving from the Tuscan Hills, to the smog of the East End and the piazzas of Florence, Still Life is a sweeping, mischievous, richly-peopled novel about beauty, love, family, and fate.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Still Life.

Still Life

Man as the Measure of All Things

1944

Somewhere in the Tuscan hills, two English spinsters, Evelyn Skinner and a Margaret someone, were eating a late lunch on the terrace of a modest albergo. It was the second of August. A beautiful summer’s day, if only you could forget there was a war on. One sat in shade, the other in light, due to the angle of the sun and the vine-?­strewn trellis overhead. They were served a reduced menu but celebrated the Allied advance with large glasses of Chianti. Overhead, a low-?­flying bomber cast them momentarily in shadow. They picked up their binoculars and studied the markings. Ours, they said, and waved.

This rabbit’s delicious, said Evelyn, and she caught the eye of the proprietor, who was smoking by the doorway. She said, Coniglio buonissimo, signore!

The signore put his cigarette in his mouth and raised his arm—part salute, part wave, one couldn’t be sure.

Do you think he’s a Fascist? said Margaret quietly.

No, I don’t think so, said Evelyn. Although Italians are quite indecisive politically. Always have been.

I heard they’re shooting them now, the Fascists.

Everyone’s shooting everyone, said Evelyn.

A shell screamed to their right and exploded on a distant hill, uprooting a cluster of small cypress trees.

One of theirs, said Margaret, and she held on to the table to protect her camera and wineglass from the shock waves.

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Why I love it

Still Life by Sarah Winman may span forty years, but each moment, character, location, meal, and glass of wine (or grappa) combine to deliver a richly crafted emotional tale that will stay with you long after you read the novel’s last words.

It’s 1944 in the Tuscan hills of Italy, where we first meet Evelyn Skinner, 64, with whom I immediately fell in love. The art historian is funny, clever, irreverent, quirky, and sarcastic—and let’s not leave out, surprisingly level-headed. When a character jumps off the page like this you know you’re in for a ride. But early in the novel, Evelyn has a chance meeting with 24-year-old Ulysses Temper, a globe-maker and soldier, during a bombing raid. Two ships in the night, so to speak, have a long chat and then depart, going their separate ways, into their separate lives—but the encounter leaves a mark.

Over the next forty years, we meet unforgettable characters, fall in love with a pub, and discover great food and art. This novel is the kind of historical fiction I love to read—a thoroughly researched and informative story that explores eternal themes like friendship, love, and family. You will relish getting to know Winman’s lush characters and reading her masterful prose, descriptions, and dialogue. Still Life is a must-read.

Member ratings (2,199)

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Historical fiction
View all
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
The Women
Husbands & Lovers
Shelterwood
A Thousand Times Before
All We Were Promised
Spitting Gold
The Seventh Veil of Salome
The Mayor of Maxwell Street
The Great Divide
The Storm We Made
The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard
Lessons in Chemistry
The Frozen River
What We Kept to Ourselves
Take My Hand
The Last Russian Doll
The First Ladies
The House Is On Fire
River Sing Me Home
The Attic Child
Malibu Rising
The Book of Longings
Hester
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
The Nightingale
Daisy Jones & The Six
The Lincoln Highway
The Secret Book of Flora Lea
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?
The Circus Train
Peach Blossom Spring
Hang the Moon
Booth
The Good Left Undone
The Perishing
The Family
Things We Lost to the Water
The Spectacular
Still Life
Send for Me
The Magnolia Palace
The Bookbinder
China Room
This Tender Land
Atomic Love
All the Light We Cannot See
The Vanishing Half
Outlawed
The Four Winds
Independence
The Fountains of Silence
Libertie
Queen of Thieves
The Great Believers
The Clockmaker's Daughter
A Gentleman in Moscow
The Great Alone
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
The Heart’s Invisible Furies
Rules of Civility
Circling the Sun
The Moor's Account
Jacqueline in Paris
Don't Cry for Me
The Christie Affair
Bloomsbury Girls
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
Bronze Drum