Still Life

“A rusty pub sign swinging in December’s throaty wheeze, and a traumatised parrot too far from home. This was his world now. Somewhere between an atom and a star was his.”

“Art versus humanity is not the question, Ulysses. One doesn’t exist without the other. Art is the antidote.”

“There are moments in life, so monumental and still, that the memory can never be retrieved without a catch to the throat or an interruption to the beat of the heart. Can never be retrieved without the rumbling disquiet of how close that moment came to not having happened at all.”

Northern Italy, 1944, the war rages on. A young English soldier, Uylsses Temper is on assignment there and meets Evelyn Skinner, a middle aged art historian. They bond show more immediately. Once the war is over, this chance encounter stays lodged in Ulys soul. He returns to London and takes up residence in The Stoat and Parrot, with it’s colorful collection of misfits and dreamers. These are his people and he loves each one deeply but cannot quite shake his experiences in Italy.
This beautifully written novel, spans several decades. Many of these wonderful characters will stay with me for a long time. The English author, E.M. Forster also plays a part in the narrative. One of my top reads of 2021. show less

This is probably going to be one of my best books of 2023. The writing is beautiful, almost poetic, and the characters are so charming that I wanted to book a room in their pensione. It really doesn't get much better than this.

In 1944 British soldier Ulysses Temper, is driving through the Tuscany countryside to return to his base. He is flagged down by Evelyn Skinner, an art historian who is hoping to get into Florence to rescue precious works of art. When the British army enters Florence, Evelyn is driven there by Ulysses. Evelyn, age 64, has been visiting Florence since she was a girl. She even stayed at the same pensione as E. M. Forster before he wrote A Room with a View, which was based on Forster's stay in Florence. So Evelyn is show more very knowledgeable about the city and she passes on to Ulysses her love of the city and its art. This will not be the last time that Ulysses and Evelyn meet in Florence but it will be some years with a number of near misses. See, Ulysses saves the life of a man while he is walking through Florence in 1944 and, in gratitude, the man leaves Ulysses his large apartment when he dies. Ulysses has been back in London since the end of the war. The woman he married before he left for the war, Peg, fell in love with an American soldier and had a child by him. Peg wants a divorce from Ulysses so that when the father of her child returns she can marry him. Ulysses, still in love with Peg, can refuse her nothing and so they divorce. But Peg's child, Alys, is brought up by Ulysses because Peg can't manage to look after her. When Ulysses inherits the Florentine property he decides to move there and with Peg's acquiescence takes Alys with him. Also accompanying them is their talented neighbour, Col, who can communicate with trees and fix almost anything. As the years pass, these three become a family and, because chosen families can always accommodate more, there are additions from old acquintances and new.

This is a love story, yes, but not just about love between two people. It's about love of art and beauty and place and time too. Evelyn tells Ulysses when they first meet:
“Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Ulysses. It repositions our sight and judgment. Captures forever that which is fleeting,” Art versus humanity is not the question, Ulysses. One doesn’t exist without the other.”
Read this book if you are despairing of modern life. It is an antidote to depression and angst. show less

The story starts towards the end of WWII in northern Italy where a mature art historian chances to meet an art loving British officer and his driver. The driver, Ulysses, is very affected by their two personas and is devastated at his captain's untimely death. Most of the rest of the story is about Ulysses and his circle of friends, Cress, Pete, Col, and on-off lover, Peg, whose daughter Alys he kind of adopts. He is a very giving, loving person and because of an act of compassion and bravery he inherits and moves to a house in Florence. Cress and young Alys are the first to accompany him and most of the narrative concerns life in post-war Florence and their adjustment to it. The story ends with octagenarian Evelyn the art historian show more finding them and also settling with them.
There were aspects of the book that I loved. The narrative developed with interesting, exquisite descriptions that transported you to life in Florence. The section about the flooding made one feel as if reliving such a tragedy. Also the pages are often sprinkled with beautiful insights into our human nature "her thoughts were of people no longer living, and it wasn't an act of nostalgia but of love of reminiscence of the people who had made her her." (216) "This statue more than anything, represents the freedom of the Renaissance. The freedom to think and feel outside of the Church."(214) Evelyn's observations on still life painting encapsulate the feminist problem of inequality.(231)
Having said all this, my major problem is that it was way too long, especially when not much happens in it except their settling in to life in Italy and friends coming and going. I had to steel myself to finish it. I thought the last chapter where Evelyn relates her experience of first love at her 99th birthday that transports the reader back seven decades was not only misplaced, but also rather a denouement after the flood and rebuilding. I found it misfocused on a supporting character as the end chapter, and finally, it was in the wrong narrative voice, 3rd person, when it is supposed to be Evelyn recounting her introduction Florence and to lesbian love. Indeed, I found it quite unbelievable that a destitute Italian maid in the early1900's would have dared to launch such a relationship. Also unbelievable and distracting to me were the touches of magical realism where the parrot not only speaks but quotes Shakespeare and offers nuggets of wisdom, and all the asides of coincidence.
So enjoyable reading overall and I would have given it a higher rating had it been shorter. show less

I love these characters so much! While reading I was totally transported into their world and I dreamt of their community at night. They gave me such joy. So few books offer up a community of compassion and mutual support. The banter between these characters is delightful. I was drawn into their fun and laughed out loud. Their lives have heartbreak and grief, they struggle but struggle together in love. And they tell each other “I love you,” for these friends have cobbled together a family. An irregular family, for sure.

There is the handsome British soldier Ulysses and his wife Peg. They grew up together, and married while on a bender. They love each other, are attracted to each other, but not meant for each other. Peg fell in love show more with an American soldier while her husband was away and bore a love child, Alys, who looks just like her dad but has her mother’s moxy. Peg can’t forget Eddie and when Ulysses returns home, she asks for a divorce. She waits for her soldier to return to her. Ulysses becomes attached to Alys as if she were his own.

Col and Cressy own the tavern where Peg works and sometimes singing with the pianist Pete. A blue fronted Amazonian parrot named Claude lives in the bar, spouting out Shakespeare with impeccable timing. Col is a single parent with a special needs daughter. The men offer Ulysses a job.

At the end of the war, Ulysses was in Florence with fellow soldier and art historian Captain Darnley, the best man he ever knew, looking to reclaim art treasures. The older art historian Evelyn Skinner arrived to help. She first visited Florence when she was twenty, and in this city had discovered love in all it’s glory and pain. Their paths cross for just a moment in time, but they leave impressions that last lifetimes.

Ulysses becomes a hero when he saves the life of a man preparing to jump from a building. Arturo is grateful and, unknown to Ulysses, wills his savior his entire estate.

Upon Arturo’s death, Ulysses returns to Florence to claim his legacy. Peg asks him to take Alys with him, as he is the better ‘parent’. At the last moment, Cress joins them, with the parrot secured in a false bottomed suitcase. Cress has won a fortune on a lucky bet. (Lucky bets change fortunes of numerous characters!) The three become an unusual family.

Ulysses makes a deep friendship with Massimo, who has handled the estate. They have two floors, and decide to turn one floor into a pensione. The ex-pats are periodically joined by Pete, Peg, and Col. The heartbroken Peg becomes involved with a wealthy man who treats her badly. Alys blossoms although her relationship with her mother is always strained and distant.

Over the years, Ulysses and Evelyn think of each other and even pass each other on the street. After a horrific flood, people come from all over to help clean up and rescue art works and books. One is Evelyn’s student and he becomes friends with Alys.

Florence is beautifully described, the architecture and landscape, the people, and especially the art. “Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Evelyn proclaims. “Captures forever that which is fleeting.” War’s toll on Florence, and in Britain, is portrayed; after an explosion, Claude lost all this feathers and went silent. The filthy, ruined rooms where priceless art is found in the rubble of the war. The changes over time, culminating in a disastrous flood.

And–E. M. Forster makes an appearance in the story! His novel A Room With a View, a novel about changing social norms and embracing passion, is constantly referenced. Darnley reminds Evelyn of Forster.

Ulysses is a hero in so many ways. Saving Arturo’s life. Raising Alys. His deep friendships, his acceptance of people as they are, blessing them with the courage to be themselves. While others find love–Col, Cressy, Alys, even Massimo–he remains alone but for moments with Peg and a few kisses and touching of hands with a local woman. Peg has waited for a man she believed would return; Ulysses has mourned a man he knew would never return.

This is the story of love, every kind of love. Between friends, between ex-lovers, between women and between men. And I found myself swelling with love as I read. I wanted to live in this world. Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, and Forster’s novel of social changes, reflect the theme of this novel and it’s nearly utopian, ideal world.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased show less

Oh my. Every so often I stumble into a book that I feel was written just for me. Meaty characters, unique setting, a big sprawling novel that overflows with compassion, humor, intelligence and love. Lots of love. This is that book.

Ulysses Temper was a British soldier stationed in Florence, Italy during WWII where he met the art historian Evelyn Skinner. She was many years older than him but almost took the place of his beautiful wife, Peg, at home in London but now in love with an American airman.

I won't be able to do this book justice because the story is larger than life and, well, sprawling, and complicated and pretty darn wonderful. I will say that there is a direct line between this book and E. M. Forster's Room With a View and I'm show more really glad that I read that one first.

If this sounds like the kind of book you'd enjoy then this is the book you'd enjoy lol. Absolutely wonderful. show less

I almost gave up on this one early on, but I'm really glad that I stayed with it. The story begins in Italy in World War II when an English soldier, Ulysses Temper, and his inspiring commanding officer join forces with Evelyn Skinner, an art historian bent on saving the treasures of Florence from destruction. The novel then follows these two characters--mostly Ulysses--through the next three decades and a bit beyond. Upon his return to London after the war, he rejoins an interesting group of friends who frequent or work at a pub called The Story and Parrot. There's the surly pub owner, Col, who is raising a mentally challenged daughter, Ginny, on his own. Cressy, an older man who can fix anything, communes with a beloved tree, and acts show more as a kind of father figure to Ullyses. Peg, a sexy woman with a mesmerizing singing voice; she's Ulysses ex-wife and still sometimes lover. Alys (aka kid), Peg's daughter conceived from a brief affair with an American soldier that she can't forget. Pete, a piano player and actor. And Claude, a parrot who not only talks (frequently spouting Shakespeare) but actually converses and comprehends what's going on around him.

Life changes for everyone when Ulysses unexpectedly inherits property in Florence. He has longed to return to the city since the war ended and decides that a move is in order. At Peg's pleading, he takes Alys, now seven, with him. Author Winman does a wonderful job of depicting the historic city, its marvelous food, and the relaxed lifestyle of the locals. Ulysses makes new friends but maintains his old ones through periodic visits, some of which turn out to be more than temporary. We watch Alys growing up and everyone else growing older, but the love between friends only deepens. That, for me, was the true heart of the novel.

As for Evelyn, Ulysses has never forgotten her, not she him, so it's inevitable that eventually they will meet again. We get bits of her life story woven into the book but more detail in the later sections, one of which focuses on her first visit to Florence. There are thematic ties between Evelyn and other characters, and even to a well-known novel set in Florence, but I'll leave readers to discover these for themselves.

Art, of course, plays an important role, as the title suggests. And like a still life painting that seems frozen in time yet changes in the viewer's perception as his or her own life experiences play out, the friendships in the novel, too, remain the same while weathering many changes.

I really enjoyed 'Still Life' and the world and characters the author creates. It left me feeling more positive about the human race than I have in a long time. I admire Winman's writing--her ability to create unique, memorable characters and to immerse her reader in her setting and her fusion of a framework with her themes. I will definitely be looking into her other books. show less

Favorite book of the year so far! It's beautiful and unique and I wish I could hang out with the main characters. Linking Italy and England by WWII and by chance friendships and relationships, the concept of family being what we make it is one predominant theme. Luck is another. Ulysses, the main character serves in the war in Florence, Italy as the Allies take possession. There he meets Evelyn Skinner, art restorer and historian, already old at sixty-four, but young in spirit, fitness and intention. Though they share one short outing to see Pontormo's Deposition in a remote chapel, Ulysses is transformed and goes back to his lower-middle class life in London and resumes life there with a great cast of true characters: his show more barmaid/singer wife Peg, Col the bar owner, Pete the pianist Cress, an old philosopher type who glues them all together, and Claude a wise and wordy parrot. The way they all communicate with shared words and experiences is clever and touching, and it's taken to a whole other level when various members of the group move to Italy. It's a testimony to how life can change when you take a chance (both Cress and Ulysses' globe-maker father are good bet makers). This is a book of gathered moments appreciated for the company in them and the simplicity of pleasures: good music, wine, sunlight, and the understood loyalty of a handful of people. What an affirmation of life after the war. The title has a double meaning which is thoughtful and clever and not overly obvious, but like all little pieces of this beautiful tale, adds to the charming whole. A quote used more than once in the book: "Incipit vita nova: So begins a new life." show less