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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 The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

‘A bear-hug of a book’ Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

From the author of When God was a Rabbit and Tin Man, Still Life is a big-hearted story of people brought together by love, war, art and the ghost of E.M. Forster.

1944, in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa, as bombs fall around them, two strangers meet and share an extraordinary evening.

Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner is a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy. She has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the wreckage and relive 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.

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 and piazzas of Florence, to the smog of London’s East End, Still Life is a sweeping, joyful novel about beauty, love, family and fate.

‘Four course nourishment for all Winman fans’ Patrick Gale, author of Take Nothing With You

‘Extraordinary . . . my book of the year’ Liz Nugent, author of Our Little Cruelties

‘The kind of story that bolsters the heart and soul’ Donal Ryan, author of Strange Flowers

Sunday Times bestseller 09/06/2021

Publisher Review

‘Readers will want to prolong the pleasure of Sarah Winman’s beautiful novel Still Life for as long as possible. It is a book to get lost in, the kind of story that bolsters the heart and soul. I loved it’ Donal Ryan, author of From a Low and Quiet Sea

‘Embodies the full generosity of the human spirit. This vast, ambitious, galloping bear-hug of a book unashamedly celebrates love in all its many forms. Love of art, love of strangers, love of a good glass of Italian wine and a bowl of pasta cooked with enough salt to taste like the sea. Love of stories. Love of love’ Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

‘An utterly beautiful story, so generous, rich, deeply moving and filled with hope. Sarah Winman is a genius and one of the greatest storytellers of our time.’ Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

‘Four course nourishment for all Winman fans, it harnesses big hearted storytelling to a dizzying historical sweep to celebrate love in all the available colours’ Patrick Gale, author of Take Nothing With You

‘I loved this extraordinary, astonishing and exquisite novel. The story of damaged characters restored and repaired by the truth and beauty of Tuscany, as Florence itself is restored and repaired post-war and post-flood is beautifully told. A joy and a pleasure, my book of the year’ Liz Nugent, author of Little Cruelties

‘I loved every word, every sentence, every beat. It’s about love and our defining moments, and it is utterly beautiful. The characters and places now live in my own memory – to be cherished forever’ Favel Parrett, author of Past the Shallows

‘A tale of the big moments and small intricacies that make us human and make us love. The happy, the sad, the accidental, the ridiculous and the sublime. I utterly adored it’ Simon Savidge, @simonsavidge