Sample
  • Still Life

  • A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)
  • By: Sarah Winman
  • Narrated by: Sarah Winman
  • Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (827 ratings)

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Still Life  By  cover art

Still Life

By: Sarah Winman
Narrated by: Sarah Winman
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Publisher's summary

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | A Veranda Magazine Book Club Pick

A captivating, bighearted, richly tapestried story of people brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster, by the celebrated author of Tin Man.

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 amidst 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, re-immersing himself in his crew at The Stoat and Parot—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 deeply drawn celebration of beauty and love in all its forms.

©2021 Sarah Winman (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Winner of the InWords Literary Award

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick

A Veranda Magazine Book Club Pick

A Parade Best Book of the Year

One of:

The Millions's Most Anticipated Books of 2021

Bookbub's The Best Historical Fiction to Read This Fall

Parade’s 25 Books We’ve Loved Reading This Fall

Parade's Best Book of the Year

Veranda's 25 Best New Books for Fall 2021

Lit Hub’s Best Books of the Week November

"A tonic for wanderlust and a cure for loneliness. It’s that rare, affectionate novel that makes one feel grateful to have been carried along. Unfurling with no more hurry than a Saturday night among old friends, the story celebrates the myriad ways love is expressed and families are formed….Endlessly charming...The novel never feels anything less than captivating because Winman creates such a flawless illusion of spontaneity, an atmosphere capable of sustaining these characters’ macabre wit, comedy of manners and poignant longing." —The Washington Post

“The incredible storytelling, lovable characters, and sweeping settings make this novel an absolute delight, proving that serious fiction does not have to be only dark and depressing.” —Real Simple

“Sarah Winman’s sweeping Still Life is a parade of small stories, intimate connections and complex characters whose lives illuminate the tedium and cataclysms of the 20th century. . . . The real magic of Still Life is the elevation of the ordinary, the unabashed consecration of human experiences. . . . Sentence after sentence, character by character, Still Life becomes poetry.” —New York Times Book Review

What listeners say about Still Life

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Absolutely Stunning

Not only was this an epic, engrossing, wonderful story, the performance was one of the best I’ve heard. And I’ve listened to numerous books over the past few years! I was utterly delighted by the very vivid characters I met in this adventure and am already missing them. I highly recommend this beautiful, sweeping novel!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Emotionally powerful, beautiful language .

powerful in its scope, tear inducing with meaning. Will order the book to tead.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect Summer Read

This was the ideal book to kick off summer! Beautiful prose. Just the right amount of drama without being traumatic. Shifted me from work and productivity to art, relationships, beauty, and pleasure. The time span helped me to zoom out to take a larger view beyond my immediate concerns.

My only criticism is the reader’s voice of childhood “Kid” and the parrot sort of grated. But this is minor. I heartily recommend.

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One of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to!

Such a great listen. These characters and story will stay with me like old friends.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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life is not still

beautiful marvelously enchanting wonderful Firenze it makes one's heart sing and laugh and cry and believe in love.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The more we listened, the more we enjoyed it!

We had a slow start, going back and forth between characters, but as their stories took hold, it was became an excellent mix of images, narratives and emotions. Like a beautiful painting...each time you look you see more and understand better.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Reminiscent of Hemingway

I read this for book club. While I appreciate the artistic style it’s not really my favorite. It reminds me of Hemingway or F Scott Fitzgerald. I struggled through the last chapter which I thought was misplaced and should have been inserted earlier in the book. It also made me feel ignorant and unrefined. There were references to artists, authors and poets that I felt like I should know but had to look up. Overall it left me with a bittersweet melancholy feeling: sad at the loss along the way but appreciating the beauty and love during the journey. Oh and it also makes me want to visit Florence. 😉

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful, evocative story. Elegant prose

Sarah Winman is a wonderful story teller. Her prose is beautiful. Her characters feel real and true. Loved it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Perfection

This book is absolutely gorgeous. The narration is perfect. Bravo! I miss the reading already.

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Superb writing

Loved the writing style, the humor, the buildup of tension when they almost meet, and all the back stories. The characters were all so unbelievably real. I look forward to reading more from this author.

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