About halfway through Sarah Winman's unforgettable novel Still Life, I began researching whether or not any airlines still flew direct from Madrid to Florence. A few pages later I was googling recipes for arrabiata sauce and then cooked it for dinner the following day. For 36 hours, from start to finish, I was completely absorbed in this incredible book, sat with its characters in the Piazza Santo Spirito, in 1962 (or thereabouts), with the sun on my back hearing the sights and sounds and feeling the rhythms of Florentine life.
I cannot recall the last occasion a novel held me so spellbound and was so successful at evoking a time and a place, creating a canvas so vivid. I wish I could read it again for the first time, but this being impossible it's inevitable I pick it up again sometime. And probably soon.
What makes it so successful is the sheer joie de vivre that Winman injects into her narrative. There is an optimism and hope about Still Life that infuses every page and it's impossible to remain unmoved by it.
It tells the story of Ulysses Temper, who we first meet in 1944 as a young private in the British Army, who has fought his way to the edge of occupied Florence. By chance he meets Evelyn Skinner, an art teacher, on the roadside. She is determined to get involved with the Monuments team, which is helping to find and restore hidden masterpieces. Evelyn (helped by Ulysses' commanding officer) opens the young man's eyes to the beauty of Florence and its art, before they are separated as the war moves on.
After the war, Evelyn returns to her teaching while Ulysses - a globe maker by trade - goes home to East London where his life centres around a pub called The Stoat and Parrot (or simply The Stoat on those occasions when Claude the profane, Shakespeare-quoting bird is not in residence). There we are introduced to quite the most extraordinary and eclectic group of characters who occupy the rest of the book. Ulysses is unsettled and directionless until his wartime exploits call out to him from history and offer him an opportunity to return to Tuscany and sample La Dolce Vita. And what a life it is - full of love and loss; of art and beauty; of espressos, grappa and spaghetti alle vongole; of everything that makes us human and interesting.
Still Life is funny, moving, warm and insightful. It has characters you will not want to leave behind and dialogue that is effervescent throughout. And, above all, in these dark January, Covid-filled days, it is cheerful, optimistic and kind. These pages are full of reviews telling you you should read this book. This one is different: you must read this book. Straight into the Top Three here with Owen Meany and any number of books competing for the number three slot.