Still Life by Sarah Winman

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 . . .
 
 '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
 
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