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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Over 500,000 copies sold internationally

A BBC Between the Covers Book Club Pick

A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime

Winner of Dymocks Book of the Year

‘Sheer joy’ GRAHAM NORTON

‘Utterly beautiful … filled with hope’ JOANNA CANNON

‘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

‘Moving, wise, poetic and funny’ DAILY MAIL

‘Winman’s pages teem with boisterous, exuberant life’ SUNDAY TIMES

Publisher Review

'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 'Glorious ... This luscious and clever book is at first glance simply a rollicking summer read ... It's a joy to witness several different thoroughly believable models of how lives can be resurrected and changed for the better' The Times 'Winman's pages teem with boisterous, exuberant life ... The novel has verve, charm and tremendous heart; its most poignant scenes, set during the 1966 flooding of Florence, recall the darkest hours of last year's pandemic' Sunday Times 'Exquisite ... There are not enough superlatives to contain the magnitude and beauty of this novel' Sunday Independent 'In Still Life, [Winman] emerges now as the great narrator of hope' Helen Cullen, Irish Times 'Teeming with unforgettable characters and oozing atmosphere, it's a joyous, summery ode to love, art and poetry' Hephzibah Anderson, Mail on Sunday 'A gorgeous, generous story of kind hearts and kindred spirits redefining the meaning of family and friendship ... [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. [A] bear-hug of a book' 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 one of the greatest storytellers of our time' Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep 'Moving, wise, poetic and funny, this book is pure sunshine and I just loved it' Daily Mail