A Room with a View

Over the past few days I escaped lockdown in Sydney and was transported to Florence, Italy. I wandered the cobblestone streets, explored magnificent art, ate delicious meals and was welcomed by a group of fascinating people who made me laugh, cry and feel like part of their family. A truly joyous trip courtesy of Sarah Winman's Still Life (2021).

In August 1944 Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier driving his Captain through the Tuscan Hills surveying the impact of the war. The Allies had advanced and were on the verge of reclaiming Florence. On the roadside, Ulysses meets Evelyn Skinner, a British woman three decades his senior. Evelyn is an art historian there to survey the damage to cultural artefacts. The trio spend the afternoon together in the ruins of a villa drinking wine, eating cheese, and talking about art and beauty. Ulysses and Evelyn feel an immediate connection, an instant familiarity. At the end of the day, they go their seperate ways, not knowing whether they will ever see each other again.

Ulysses returns to London at the end of the war to work at the local pub. Here we meet his wife Peg, young Alys, publican Col, piano man Pete, nature-loving Cressy, a quick-witted parrot named Claude, and a cast of other memorable characters. All unique, flawed and realistic. This ragtag group become family and over the years support each other in genuinely touching ways. 

The story that follows takes place over the next four decades in London and Florence as the cities rebuild after war and social changes come about in the 1960s. The characters evolve and change with the times, but remain ever connected. The memory of their first encounter lingers, with Ulysses and Evelyn endeavouring to find one another again.

There are obvious parallels here with E.M. Forster's classic A Room With A View (1908). Indeed Forster himself is a character in the novel, albeit briefly, when he meets Evelyn at a pensione overlooking the Arno. But Forster's influence looms large over this story and we can see in both Evelyn and poet Constance Everly, more than a touch of Miss Lavish.

There is something about Florence. The history, art, architecture and landscape welcomes you and seeps under your skin. I have such fond memories of my travels there in 2012 and long to return. As I read Still Life, I followed in the footsteps of the characters on a map of Florence and spent a lot time researching the artworks, churches and other things they discussed. 

When I finished this book I literally cried. It was such a beautiful novel and I was bereft leaving these wonderful characters after being welcomed into their world. I haven't had such a strong emotional feeling about a novel since I read Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet. Like that novel, Still Life is one I will be gifting and recommending to friends and loved ones. 

The Ponte Vecchio over the Arno. (June 2012)