Sarah Winman’s Still Life is the latest pick for the Good Morning America book club.
Winman’s novel, published Tuesday by Putnam, tells the story of the friendship between two Britons, a 64-year-old schoolteacher and a 24-year-old soldier, who meet in Italy toward the end of World War II. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkuscalled the book “an unexpected treatise on the many forms love and beauty can take, set against the backdrop of Florence.”
“With the weather turning cold, this month’s book pick is an epic tale that is perfect to curl up with by the fire,” Good Morning America’s Lama Hasan said. “It has unforgettable characters that are drawn together by love, art, and war.”
Still Life is the fourth book by Winman, whose previous works have included When God Was a Rabbit and Tin Man. Prior to her career as an author, Winman was an actor, known for her roles on British television series including Midsomer Murders and Prime Suspect.
“The story moves from the Tuscan countryside to the East End of London and then back to Florence, across four decades of love and war and art and beauty and found family,” Winman said of her book. “And it’s marvelously queer.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
