Many thanks to NetGalley and GP Putnam's Sons for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest book by Sarah Winman - 4 stars!
Spanning decades, we first meet Ulysses, an English soldier, on the battleground in Italy. He has a chance meeting with an older woman, Evelyn, an art historian, who has come to see if she can salvage any paintings. The two will cross paths over the next decades until finally meeting again. Ulysses has developed a family of sorts with a group of people he meets at a local pub in London,. When Ulysses inherits a home in Florence, he ends up gathering these friends with him as they navigate life and love.
This is wonderfully written with a group of characters I won't soon forget - including a parrot! I loved the way the book followed these characters through chance meetings and over decades, giving us an opportunity to see how they grew and changed. It's also a love letter to Florence, art and food, with a study in feminism and women's roles through this time period. But it did drag a bit for me in parts, especially the ending which takes us back to Evelyn's early story. Maybe I was just missing the rest of the characters at that part though!
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