Hardback: 438 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction,
Publisher: 4th Estate, Harper Collins 2021
Source: Tywyn Library
First Sentences: Somewhere in the Tuscan hills, two English spinsters, Evelyn Skinner and a Margaret someone, were eating a late lunch on the terrace of a modest albergo.
Review Quote: "The sheer joy in [Winman's] storytelling is completely infectious. I've loved spending time with this unforgettable cast of characters in extraordinary times and places." --Graham Norton
Favourite Quote: “Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Ulysses. It repositions our sight and judgement. Captures forever that which is fleeting.”
My Opinion:
At last I got hold of a copy of 'Still Life', which I have been wanting to read for a long time. It was worth the wait as for the last five days I have been transported to Florence in my beloved Italy with a wonderful cast of characters. I did not want it to end.
The main protagonists are Ulysses Temper and Evelyn Skinner. The novel revolves around the life of Ulysses from 1944 when as a young soldier he first meets Evelyn. A kindred spirit whose friendship influences his life over the next four decades.
Such a beguiling tale of a dynamic cast of characters which I highly recommend to everyone. Read slowly and savour this bittersweet story.
Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her own youth. In each other, Ulysses and Evelyn find a kindred spirit amongst the rubble of war-torn Italy, and set off on a course of events that will shape Ulysses's life for the next four decades.
As Ulysses returns home to London, reimmersing himself in his crew at The Stoat and Parrot -- a motley mix of pub crawlers and eccentrics -- he carries his time in Italy with him. And when an unexpected inheritance brings him back to where it all began, Ulysses knows better than to tempt fate, and returns to the Tuscan hills.
With beautiful prose, extraordinary tenderness, and bursts of humor and light, Still Life is a sweeping portrait of unforgettable individuals who come together to make a family, and a richly drawn celebration of beauty and love in all its forms.
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Courtesy of Goodreads
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