Still Life

Still Life traces the lives of several characters across four decades, beginning in 1944 Tuscany during World War II. A chance meeting between British soldier Ulysses Temper and art historian Evelyn Skinner sparks connections that will reshape multiple lives. The story moves between London's East End and Florence, Italy, following Ulysses and an unconventional found family of pub regulars, neighbors, and artists. Their intertwined paths lead them to restore an ancient villa in Florence while building new lives in postwar Europe. The novel explores art, friendship, love, and the ways people create meaning through the families they choose. Through detailed observations of both grand historical moments and quiet daily rituals, it examines how beauty and human connection persist through upheaval and loss.

Readers emphasize the book's vivid descriptions of Florence and London, with many noting how the settings feel like characters themselves. The prose style and rich character development earn frequent mentions in positive reviews. Likes: - Immersive sense of place and period details - Complex, memorable characters - Food and art descriptions - LGBTQ+ representation without making it the main focus Dislikes: - Lack of quotation marks in dialogue - Slow pacing in first third - Too many characters to track - Some find the coincidences unrealistic Multiple readers describe it as "a warm hug of a book" though some found the tone overly sentimental. Ratings: Goodreads: 4.27/5 (84,000+ ratings) Amazon: 4.4/5 (11,000+ ratings) LibraryThing: 4.2/5 (1,000+ ratings) "The characters stayed with me long after finishing" appears frequently in reviews, while critical reviews often cite "struggled to get into it initially but worth persisting."

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🎨 Sarah Winman wrote Still Life in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing inspiration from her own travels through Florence, Italy. 🏺 The character of Claude Simioni was inspired by the real-life art historian and British Intelligence officer Frederick Hartt, who helped protect Florentine art from Nazi destruction during WWII. 🎭 The author deliberately chose not to use quotation marks for dialogue throughout the novel, a stylistic choice that creates a more fluid, dreamlike narrative flow. 🖼️ The painting that appears on many editions of the book's cover is "Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose" by Francisco de Zurbarán, though the novel itself references numerous other works of art. 🌺 While researching for the book, Winman spent time learning about the devastating Florence flood of 1966, which she incorporated into the narrative as a pivotal historical moment that brought the international community together to save the city's art treasures.