Still Life
Sarah Winman
(4th Estate GB, $35)
Allied troops advance and latent bombs fall. It’s 1944 and two strangers find themselves sharing exquisite Italian wine in the cellar of a ruined Tuscan villa. He is a young British soldier, she is a much older art historian revisiting her past and hoping to salvage stolen art works. This is the beginning of a sensory experience captured in exquisite prose.
The story shifts between London’s East End, centred on The Stoat and Parrot and its regular drinkers, to the sundrenched beauty of Florence. An act of kindness links the two places and alters the course of the East Enders’ lives.
This band of disparate characters will make you laugh and cry as they attempt to live their best lives. The smells, sounds and visual descriptions of Florence are written in superlatives, making you want so desperately to be there – a feast for the senses.
Overall, a heartwarming, hilarious and beautifully written book that I loved and would highly recommend.
– Maureen Calder