Still Life by Sarah Winman

 

Still Life by Sarah Winman.

Published in hardback 1st June 2021 by 4th Estate.

Audio book narrated by Sarah Winman.

From the cover of the book:

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.

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Italy, 1944. In the Tuscan Hills. sexagenarian art historian Evelyn Skinner awaits the arrival of the Allies, as they advance against a retreating German army. She longs to be rid of the tedious companionship of fellow English spinster, Margaret someone, and return to her beloved Florence  - city where she enjoyed her 'room with a view' in a small hotel in the company of guests including a youthful EM Forster, and where she fell in love with a woman for the first time.

Evelyn's chance to escape comes in the form of young British soldier Ulysses Temper, and a lifelong connection is formed as they shelter from bombs in the cellar of a villa containing precious art works. Evelyn imparts the infectious joy of her passion for art, beauty and all things Italian to Ulysses during their brief meeting, and from this point onwards the course of his own life, and subsequently those of the people he loves, takes an unexpected turn - bringing profound changes for the them all over the next four decades.

Still Life is the most wonderful sweeping story that moves between the East End of London and the glorious Tuscan Hills of Florence, spanning the years 1944 to 1979 - with a powerful revisit to Evelyn's fateful summer of 1901 before the tale is over. It is one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read, and inevitably a short review is not going to be anywhere near enough to convey to you quite what an experience it has been to spend time with these characters.

Ah, the characters! It all begins with a meeting between Evelyn and Ulysses in 1944. Evelyn has spent the war in Italy, possibly as a British Spy, and when fate throws her together with the young Ulysses her advice to let the magic of Florence into his heart becomes a turning point in his life. Their meeting is brief, but the effect brings about an event that powerfully affects where he will find himself a few years in the future.

Once Ulysses is demobbed, he returns to the East End and the friends and loved ones he has left behind, including the love of his life, his wife Peg, However, their relationship has never been a comfortable one, and war time has brought about a breach between them. This part of the tale is centred around the local pub, with its motley crowd - most importantly young Alys, Col the publican, his daughter Ginny, Pete the pianist, Claude the parrot, and the enchanting Cress who is the loveable philosopher of the gang. These characters soon get under your skin, and as the years go by, they become like family to you.

Without giving anything away, Florence becomes a city that appears in much of the novel, for reasons relating to Ulysses' time there in 1944. Many more characters from the streets of Florence will make their way into your heart too, along with all the gorgeous things that make Italy a feast for the senses - the buildings, the art, the food, and the essence of the Florentine people.

There is so much in these pages about love, family, roots, connection, and self-discovery, with a hefty serving of emotional content, and moments where lives brush up against each other in portentious ways. There is joy, humour, wisdom, and deep loss, and I spent the entire book alternating between laughter and tears. There is a glorious fullness to the whole that brings everything full-circle back to Evelyn, with a detailed account of her first visit to Florence in 1901, in which she tells of her first, passionate love affair, and the people that influenced the path her own life has taken.

This book is one from my backlist, and it has spent too long languishing on a shelf. I eventually decided to listen to the fabulous audio book, which is narrated by Sarah Winman herself, and I am very glad that I did. It is spellbinding. There is so much to love in these pages. The story called on my own roots in the East End of London, and my time in Florence, and If you have spent any time in Italy then you are bound to find much to delight you too - especially if you are partial to the enchanting Room with a View by EM Forster.

I adored this book, and did not want it to end... If it is not on your radar, then it really should be.

Still Life is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Sarah Winman (born 1964) is a British actress and author. In 2011 her debut novel When God Was a Rabbit became an international bestseller and won Winman several awards including New Writer of the Year in the Galaxy National Book Awards.