I love these characters so much! While reading I was totally transported into their world and I dreamt of their community at night. They gave me such joy. So few books offer up a community of compassion and mutual support. The banter between these characters is delightful. I was drawn into their fun and laughed out loud. Their lives have heartbreak and grief, they struggle but struggle together in love. And they tell each other “I love you,” for these friends have cobbled together a family. An irregular family, for sure.

There is the handsome British soldier Ulysses and his wife Peg. They grew up together, and married while on a bender. They love each other, are attracted to each other, but not meant for each other. Peg fell in love with an American soldier while her husband was away and bore a love child, Alys, who looks just like her dad but has her mother’s moxy. Peg can’t forget Eddie and when Ulysses returns home, she asks for a divorce. She waits for her soldier to return to her. Ulysses becomes attached to Alys as if she were his own.

Col and Cressy own the tavern where Peg works and sometimes singing with the pianist Pete. A blue fronted Amazonian parrot named Claude lives in the bar, spouting out Shakespeare with impeccable timing. Col is a single parent with a special needs daughter. The men offer Ulysses a job.

At the end of the war, Ulysses was in Florence with fellow soldier and art historian Captain Darnley, the best man he ever knew, looking to reclaim art treasures. The older art historian Evelyn Skinner arrived to help. She first visited Florence when she was twenty, and in this city had discovered love in all it’s glory and pain. Their paths cross for just a moment in time, but they leave impressions that last lifetimes.

Ulysses becomes a hero when he saves the life of a man preparing to jump from a building. Arturo is grateful and, unknown to Ulysses, wills his savior his entire estate.

Upon Arturo’s death, Ulysses returns to Florence to claim his legacy. Peg asks him to take Alys with him, as he is the better ‘parent’. At the last moment, Cress joins them, with the parrot secured in a false bottomed suitcase. Cress has won a fortune on a lucky bet. (Lucky bets change fortunes of numerous characters!) The three become an unusual family.

Ulysses makes a deep friendship with Massimo, who has handled the estate. They have two floors, and decide to turn one floor into a pensione. The ex-pats are periodically joined by Pete, Peg, and Col. The heartbroken Peg becomes involved with a wealthy man who treats her badly. Alys blossoms although her relationship with her mother is always strained and distant.

Over the years, Ulysses and Evelyn think of each other and even pass each other on the street. After a horrific flood, people come from all over to help clean up and rescue art works and books. One is Evelyn’s student and he becomes friends with Alys.

Florence is beautifully described, the architecture and landscape, the people, and especially the art. “Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Evelyn proclaims. “Captures forever that which is fleeting.” War’s toll on Florence, and in Britain, is portrayed; after an explosion, Claude lost all this feathers and went silent. The filthy, ruined rooms where priceless art is found in the rubble of the war. The changes over time, culminating in a disastrous flood.

And–E. M. Forster makes an appearance in the story! His novel A Room With a View, a novel about changing social norms and embracing passion, is constantly referenced. Darnley reminds Evelyn of Forster.

Ulysses is a hero in so many ways. Saving Arturo’s life. Raising Alys. His deep friendships, his acceptance of people as they are, blessing them with the courage to be themselves. While others find love–Col, Cressy, Alys, even Massimo–he remains alone but for moments with Peg and a few kisses and touching of hands with a local woman. Peg has waited for a man she believed would return; Ulysses has mourned a man he knew would never return.

This is the story of love, every kind of love. Between friends, between ex-lovers, between women and between men. And I found myself swelling with love as I read. I wanted to live in this world. Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, and Forster’s novel of social changes, reflect the theme of this novel and it’s nearly utopian, ideal world.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased

Still Life is a beautifully rendered story of love and life and memories, set in Florence and London. I almost put it down when I realized it was over 450 pages but then I was completely swept up in the story and the characters, Sarah Winman is becoming a favorite author!

Loved, loved, LOVED this novel. Ulysses has my heart! And Cress! and even Peg. If you love a good family saga, you're going to love this one. I will say that the first 2 or 3 chapters had a way different feel to them, and I nearly set it down. Glad I didn't!

“Still Life” is a riveting story spanning from the mid 1940’s (World War 2) to the late 1970’s. These wonderful characters whose lives intertwined is set in Florence, Italy! It takes the reader into the world of the Arts and Poetry, as the lives of Peg, Ulysses, Col, Cassy, Massimo, Alys, and Evelyn, revolve around each other in love, heartache and beauty! .

A book that perfectly captures the essence of what Florence is for visitors who step off the train at Santa Maria Novella and see the light, the beauty, the history, and feel that anything is possible. I so quickly fell in love with Ulysses and Evelyn and the eclectic group of people they end up bringing together from all walks of life (and, of course, Claude, the profound parrot). Following them all through the decades as they build lives, figure out who they are, and what they mean to each other was a joy. Meanwhile, we see Florence during the destruction of WWII, then rebuilt from the rubble only to see it destroyed again in the flood of 1966--catastrophic events that ultimately bring people together for the love of a city and each other. A beautiful book I'll return to whenever I need to visit Florence for a few hours.

This book is a love letter to Florence, Italy, its art, and inhabitants. An ode to chance encounters, love and found family. A delightful story of a tender-hearted English soldier and an eccentric art historian who serendipitously meet on the outskirts of Florence towards the end of WWII. Filled with lovable characters and gorgeous prose, this is not a book to miss.

For readers of E.M. Forster and The Offing by Benjamin Myers

What a fantastic story and romp through Florence! I loved this one!

This is mainly a character driven story, with the main characters being Ulysses Temper and Evelyn Skinner. They meet in 1944 in a ruined wine cellar in a Tuscan villa.

Ulysses is a young solider, Evelyn a sexagenarian on a mission to salvage paintings from the ruins.

They form an unlikely bond, and Evelyn’s talk of truth and beauty will plant a seed in Ulysses that will shape his life over the next four decades.

A story of warmth, loves gained and loves lost, hope, humanity, family and above all, a love letter to Italy.*

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.
The writing was so childish, I felt like I was reading Dick and Jane. I'm sure it could have been a good book if it were written for adults.

This is a story about two people and how their meeting affects their lives for over four decades. Their lives intertwine with the history of the times, including war and art. I liked the writing, the characters and the plot. My only problem with it was that is was way too long. Otherwise, a very interesting and enjoyable read.

Whenever I attempt to gather and describe my thoughts in any coherent way about a piece of music, a film or a book that has moved me as much as this, I’m always plagued by a similar fear that Evelyn, our beloved spinster/art historian/WWII spy(?) describes: “She would never be able to explain her gratitude without it sounding patronising and slight.” So in the hopes of sounding neither patronising nor slight in any way, I’ll just simply say that I have such a lot of gratitude for this wonderful book. For all of Sarah Winman’s writing, for that matter.
I’ve never met characters that I have loved and cared for as deeply as her’s, across all of her novels. But there is something particularly special about this rather beautifully-motley, partially avian crew. I’m so devastated to part with them and would have very warmly welcomed them into my life for 450 more pages.
This is a book about the quiet moments and encounters that become the most treasured pages of our lives; about the light that small gestures of love and kindness, of seeing one another, lets into them. This book has opened my windows in quite a few ways. Some which have been dirty for quite some time now. It’s changed the way I view my craft. It’s changed the way I want to live.
I can’t really conjure anything better to say than that Still Life does what, in my opinion, all of the very best writing does at its core—shows you that the best way to live is with an open mind and an open heart.