Book Recommendations
Still Life
By Sarah Winman
Fiction, Historical, 20th Century, World War II, Family Life, General, Literary | 464 pages
3 recommendations
*A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK*
*A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK*
“[A] winsome, large-hearted novel ... [Still Life] pulses from the page.” —Entertainment Weekly
Set between World War II and the 1980s, Still Life is a beautiful, big-hearted story of strangers brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster, from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Tin Man and When God Was a Rabbit.
In the wine-cellar of a Tuscan villa, as the Allies advance and bombs fall around them, two people meet and share an extraordinary evening: Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier from London's East End; Evelyn Skinner is a worldly older art historian and possible spy. She has come to Italy to rescue paintings from the ruins and relive her memories of the time she encountered E.M. 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's mind that night, one that will shape the trajectory of his life—and the lives of those who love him—for the next four decades. Moving from war-ravaged Tuscany to the boozy confines of The Stoat and Parrot pub in London and the piazzas of post-war Florence, Still Life is both sweeping and intimate, mischievous and deeply felt. It is a novel about beauty, love and fate, about the things that make life worth living, and the things we're prepared to die for.
*A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK*
“[A] winsome, large-hearted novel ... [Still Life] pulses from the page.” —Entertainment Weekly
Set between World War II and the 1980s, Still Life is a beautiful, big-hearted story of strangers brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster, from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Tin Man and When God Was a Rabbit.
In the wine-cellar of a Tuscan villa, as the Allies advance and bombs fall around them, two people meet and share an extraordinary evening: Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier from London's East End; Evelyn Skinner is a worldly older art historian and possible spy. She has come to Italy to rescue paintings from the ruins and relive her memories of the time she encountered E.M. 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's mind that night, one that will shape the trajectory of his life—and the lives of those who love him—for the next four decades. Moving from war-ravaged Tuscany to the boozy confines of The Stoat and Parrot pub in London and the piazzas of post-war Florence, Still Life is both sweeping and intimate, mischievous and deeply felt. It is a novel about beauty, love and fate, about the things that make life worth living, and the things we're prepared to die for.
Latest recommendations
Polly Davies
"Reading this historical novel makes you want to visit or revisit Florence.
Set in Florence and the east end of London, the story draws you in from the start and you begin to feel as if you know the characters personally.
As Ulysees, the main character, learns about and starts to appreciate Renaissance art, the reader does too. You explore Florence through his eyes and feel as if you are there with him, in the cool of Santa Crocce church or having a drink with his local friends in the square.
It's a brilliant novel full of love.
I have not been to Florence for many years but when I go again I'll read this first."
Set in Florence and the east end of London, the story draws you in from the start and you begin to feel as if you know the characters personally.
As Ulysees, the main character, learns about and starts to appreciate Renaissance art, the reader does too. You explore Florence through his eyes and feel as if you are there with him, in the cool of Santa Crocce church or having a drink with his local friends in the square.
It's a brilliant novel full of love.
I have not been to Florence for many years but when I go again I'll read this first."
David Jones
"This is a feel good book with significant parts in Tuscany. It captures the sense of everyday life in a Tuscan town and transported me back to visits I had made to Florence and other parts of that region. The characters are well developed and I found the book really lifted my spirits. Reading it would enhance a holiday."
Laura Dewar
"A gorgeous, gentle novel set between Tuscany and London, between WWII and the 1980s. The characters and locations are so 3-D you feel you really know them, even the talking parrot. The scenes of flood-ravaged Florence had me curious to read more about this period. I sped through it."
