Buying Options
Kindle Price: | $12.99 |
includes tax, if applicable | |
Sold by: | HarperCollins Publishers (AU) This price was set by the publisher. |

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

![Still Life: The instant Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick by [Sarah Winman]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kQ--EOAiL._SY346_.jpg)
Still Life: The instant Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick Kindle Edition
Sarah Winman (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Amazon Price | New from | Used from |
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" |
$0.00
| Free with your Audible trial |
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 Three Things About Elsie
’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, author of Our Little Cruelties
‘Moving, wise, poetic and funny’ Daily Mail
‘Winman’s pages teem with boisterous, exuberant life’ Sunday Times
Sunday Times bestseller 09/06/2021
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherFourth Estate
- Publication date1 June 2021
- File size1264 KB
Product description
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
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.Book Description
The instant Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.About the Author
Sarah Winman grew up in Essex and now lives in London. She attended the Weber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to act in theatre, film and television. Her first novel, When God Was a Rabbit was an international bestseller, her second A Year of Marvellous Ways was a Sunday Times bestseller and Tin Man was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award 2018.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.Product details
- ASIN : B08N5NZ8PZ
- Publisher : Fourth Estate (1 June 2021)
- Language : English
- File size : 1264 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 449 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 54 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 1 in History of Italy (Kindle Store)
- 1 in Art Criticism
- 1 in European Art History
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs, and more
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Customer reviews

Reviewed in Australia on 13 March 2022
Read reviews that mention
Top reviews from Australia
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
“Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Ulysses. It repositions our sight and judgement. Captures forever that which is fleeting.”
The story begins in 1944 when two strangers meet in a wrecked wine cellar in a Tuscan villa. Bombs going off around them the two share an extraordinary evening together.
Ulysses was a British soldier and Evelyn was an art historian who came to Italy to salvage paintings from the wreckage. While there she relives the time her heart was stolen by an Italian maid. In those years this was something not accepted by the world.
Evelyn is a straight shooter and while she sees the world in black and white, yet she also see it in every shade possible. Her talk of truth and the beauty the world shaped Ulysses’s life. We follow them through the next four decades from Britain to Tuscany to Florence encompassing family, love, beautiful art, freedom and the end.

Reviewed in Australia on 13 March 2022
“Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Ulysses. It repositions our sight and judgement. Captures forever that which is fleeting.”
The story begins in 1944 when two strangers meet in a wrecked wine cellar in a Tuscan villa. Bombs going off around them the two share an extraordinary evening together.
Ulysses was a British soldier and Evelyn was an art historian who came to Italy to salvage paintings from the wreckage. While there she relives the time her heart was stolen by an Italian maid. In those years this was something not accepted by the world.
Evelyn is a straight shooter and while she sees the world in black and white, yet she also see it in every shade possible. Her talk of truth and the beauty the world shaped Ulysses’s life. We follow them through the next four decades from Britain to Tuscany to Florence encompassing family, love, beautiful art, freedom and the end.

Top reviews from other countries

The young army corporal and the ageing art historian we first meet in 1944, in Florence, brought together by chance. This “odd couple” was promising, and the early pages are the best part of the book. Through these two ripple wider circles of family and friends. All salt-of-the-earth types and neither rounded nor credible characters. They felt rather like a “gang” – fans of Friends would probably love it. Chance and rather unlikely good fortune propels the story.
The interesting question is will Ulysses and Evelyn meet up again – hints of Friends again. This propels the reader through until 1980.The setting is divided between an East End pub and an Italian pensione. Like other similar novels the author checklists the big events with broad accuracy. However, the characters seemed remarkably tolerant, open-minded and liberal. Just too good to be true. Too nice really. This makes it difficult to plot social changes as I assume the author would like to do and as the reader would expect.
Dialogue is also anachronistic. Modern expressions are freely given to speakers in the 1940s and 1950s when they were absolutely not current. I am not sure how bothered the author was to get this right, as she also gives us a talking tree and a free-thinking parrot.
In my humble opinion, a novel must convince and challenge – and this does neither.



The characters are wonderfully loveable, the storyline tugs the heart strings, and the art, history and Italian geography knowledge is a joy to behold.
I can honestly say this is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in years. So much so I've since purchased more from Sarah Winman and I am currently enjoying When God was a rabbit. I highly recommend Still life, well worth a read.

Who is giving these books 5 stars. Have they ever read a really good book??