29 best-selling fiction books like Still Life by Sarah Winman

Cover of Still Life by Sarah Winman

Still Life

By: Sarah Winman

4.17

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English so…

"But when have women not sacrificed to live as they feel?"

-Sarah Winman, Still Life

"But when have women not sacrificed to live as they feel?"

-Sarah Winman, Still Life

"We were an unconventional family. Scandal was a rite of passage."

-Sarah Winman, Still Life

"We were an unconventional family. Scandal was a rite of passage."

-Sarah Winman, Still Life

If you liked the fiction plot in Still Life by Sarah Winman , here is a list of 29 books like this:

Cover of Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

1. Small Things Like These

By: Claire Keegan

4.18

Format: 128 pages, Hardcover

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal me… read more

Similar categories in Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
"Always, Christmas brought out the best and the worst in people."

-Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

"for people were bound, he knew, to reveal not only themselves, but what they knew, in conversation"

-Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

"And then the nights came on and the frosts took hold again, and blades of cold slid under doors and cut the knees off those who still knelt to say the rosary."

-Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

"When he reached the yard gate and found the padlock seized with frost, he felt the strain of being alive and wished he had stayed in bed, but he made himself carry on and crossed to a neighbour’s hou…"

-Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

Cover of Prophet Song by Paul    Lynch

2. Prophet Song

By: Paul Lynch

4.10

Format: 259 pages, Kindle Edition

A fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice, from an internat… read more

Similar categories in Paul Lynch's Prophet Song book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"people are entitled to some small moment of peace."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"the child absorbing the mother’s trauma and storing it in his body for later use,"

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"... time is at once addition and subtraction, time adds one day to the next and always takes away from what's left..."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"...knowing how it is so that all boys grow up and pull away from home to unmake the world in the guise of making it, nature decrees it so."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

Cover of Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

3. Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

By: Shankari Chandran

4.21

Format: 384 pages, Paperback

Welcome to Cinnamon Gardens, a home for those who are lost and the stories they treasure. Cinnam… read more

Similar categories in Shankari Chandran's Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

4. Tom Lake

By: Ann Patchett

3.99

Format: 309 pages, Hardcover

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again prov… read more

Similar categories in Ann Patchett's Tom Lake book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
"You can’t pretend this [Covid] isn’t happening,"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"In the summer the pear trees were fine. In the summer, all that is hideous about a pear tree is hidden by leaves and pears. But once those disguises were removed they were nothing but acres of murder…"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"Hazel, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something important, you need to be brave.' I then explained to the dog how I have told myself for so many years that my career fell apart because I wasn't …"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"It's as if someone bought all the diamonds at Tiffany's, and crushed them into dust, then spread that dust across the water so that it sifts down evenly, filtering through the shards of light that cu…"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

Cover of The Covenant of Water by Abraham   Verghese

5. The Covenant of Water

By: Abraham Verghese

4.45

Format: 724 pages, Hardcover

From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial ep… read more

Similar categories in Abraham Verghese's The Covenant of Water book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

6. The List of Suspicious Things

By: Jennie Godfrey

4.29

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

'What if we decided to try and find him?' 'What on earth are you on about?' she said. 'How are w… read more

Similar categories in Jennie Godfrey's The List of Suspicious Things book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • audiobook
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
Cover of Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton

7. Lola in the Mirror

By: Trent Dalton

4.41

Format: 448 pages, Kindle Edition

Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from inter… read more

Similar categories in Trent Dalton's Lola in the Mirror book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • book club
  • fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Bookbinder by Pip Williams

8. The Bookbinder

By: Pip Williams

4.07

Format: 437 pages, Hardcover

A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when Wor… read more

Similar categories in Pip Williams's The Bookbinder book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • audiobook
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"Your stitching is what will hold the story together."

-Pip Williams, The Bookbinder

"Love Eternal, in Baskerville typeface. He'd chosen it for its clarity and beauty."

-Pip Williams, The Bookbinder

"The myriad ways our words had failed to be bound, and here they were, finally, and there was only one bloody copy."

-Pip Williams, The Bookbinder

Cover of You Are Here by David Nicholls

9. You Are Here

By: David Nicholls

4.08

Format: 368 pages, Hardcover

Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way . . . Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his… read more

Similar categories in David Nicholls's You Are Here book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"It’s true I do have time and freedom and I love it, sometimes. But the notion that I should be “making the most of it"

-David Nicholls, You Are Here

"You were traumatised.’ ‘I wonder if people use that word too much.’ ‘It’s the right word for something traumatic.’ ‘But it wasn’t war. People get beaten up every Friday night.’ ‘And are traumatised b…"

-David Nicholls, You Are Here

"she went on a solo trip to Italy, role-playing a character in a Forster novel. In Florence, she read performatively in cafés and sat in the cool of exquisite churches, straining for some kind of spir…"

-David Nicholls, You Are Here

"Books saw her through the pupal stage of thirteen to sixteen, frowning at Kafka and Woolf, then tearing through John Irving and Maeve Binchy, widely read in the proper sense, making no distinction be…"

-David Nicholls, You Are Here

Cover of James by Percival Everett

10. James

By: Percival Everett

4.54

Format: 303 pages, Hardcover

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , both harrowing and f… read more

Similar categories in Percival Everett's James book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Still Life by Sarah Winman

11. Still Life

By: Sarah Winman

4.17

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English so… read more

Similar categories in Sarah Winman's Still Life book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • italy
  • art
  • literary fiction
  • audiobook
  • lgbt
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • queer
"But when have women not sacrificed to live as they feel?"

-Sarah Winman, Still Life

"We were an unconventional family. Scandal was a rite of passage."

-Sarah Winman, Still Life

"No single act of generosity remains in isolation. The ripples are many."

-Sarah Winman, Still Life

"He needed to know everyone was safe because without them he was nothing."

-Sarah Winman, Still Life

Cover of The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

12. The Island of Missing Trees

By: Elif Shafak

4.15

Format: 354 pages, Hardcover

A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the B… read more

Similar categories in Elif Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
"She was no part of anything. In her unbroken loneliness, she was complete. Never had she felt so exposed, yet si powerful."

-Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees

"So I guess it is in my genes, this melancholy I can never quite shake off. Carved with an invisible knife into my arborescent skin."

-Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees

"You don't share a language, you think, and then you realise, grief is a language. We understand each other, people with troubled pasts."

-Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees

"To immigrants and exiles everywhere, the uprooted, the re-rooted, the rootless, And to the trees we left behind, rooted in our memories ..."

-Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees

Cover of Water by John Boyne

13. Water

By: John Boyne

4.33

Format: 176 pages, Hardcover

The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the local… read more

Similar categories in John Boyne's Water book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • book club
  • fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

14. The House of Doors

By: Tan Twan Eng

4.14

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

A spellbinding novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redempti… read more

Similar categories in Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • lgbt
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • queer
"Money's the sixth sense. If you don't have it, you can't make … the most of the other five."

-Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors

"I feel that when I travel I can change myself a little, and I return from a journey not quite the same self I was."

-Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors

"That night, side by side, we drifted among the galaxies of sea-stars, while far, far above us the asterisks of light marked out the footnotes on the page of eternity."

-Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors

"All of us will be forgotten eventually. Like a wave on the ocean, leaving no trace that it had once existed.' He shook his head. 'We will be remembered through our stories."

-Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors

Cover of In Memoriam by Alice Winn

15. In Memoriam

By: Alice Winn

4.53

Format: 382 pages, Hardcover

A haunting, virtuosic debut novel about two young men who fall in love during a time of war. It'… read more

Similar categories in Alice Winn's In Memoriam book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • lgbt
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • queer
"It’s intimate."

-Alice Winn, In Memoriam

"Call me Sidney,"

-Alice Winn, In Memoriam

"Where’s the rest of it?"

-Alice Winn, In Memoriam

"Do you believe in magic?"

-Alice Winn, In Memoriam

Cover of A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe

16. A Terrible Kindness

By: Jo Browning Wroe

4.30

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

When we go through something impossible, someone, or something, will help us, if we let them . . . … read more

Similar categories in Jo Browning Wroe's A Terrible Kindness book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder

17. Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life

By: Anna Funder

4.13

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

This is the story of the marriage behind some of the most famous literary works of the 20th century… read more

Similar categories in Anna Funder's Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • historical
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna   Quinn

18. The Whalebone Theatre

By: Joanna Quinn

4.06

Format: 558 pages, Hardcover

A transporting, irresistible debut novel that takes its heroine, Cristabel Seagrave, from a theatr… read more

Similar categories in Joanna Quinn's The Whalebone Theatre book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
"Without passion we are only machines."

-Joanna Quinn, The Whalebone Theatre

"A place where exiles gather to talk of passion."

-Joanna Quinn, The Whalebone Theatre

"The men repeatedly request that she play Elgar’s “Nimrod"

-Joanna Quinn, The Whalebone Theatre

"It pleases her immensely that she has created this. It reminds her of playing with the cardboard theatre in the attic, how her favourite part was lying on the floor, doing the voices, making the char…"

-Joanna Quinn, The Whalebone Theatre

Cover of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

19. Lessons in Chemistry

By: Bonnie Garmus

4.29

Format: 404 pages, Hardcover

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to poi… read more

Similar categories in Bonnie Garmus's Lessons in Chemistry book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
"Sometimes I think," she said slowly, "that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn't make it past noon."

-Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

"(On religion) "I think it lets us off the hook. I think it teaches us that nothing is really our fault; that something or someone else is pulling the strings; the ultimately, we're not to blame for t…"

-Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

"Whenever you feel afraid, just remember. Courage is the root of change - and change is what we're chemically designed to do. So when you wake up tomorrow, make this pledge. No more holding yourself b…"

-Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

Cover of Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

20. Yellowface

By: R.F. Kuang

3.77

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says… read more

Similar categories in R.F. Kuang's Yellowface book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • book club
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"The truth is fluid, there is always another way to spin the story."

-R.F. Kuang, Yellowface

"They tell authors never to look at Goodreads, but nobody follows that advice—none of us can resist the urge to know how our work is being received."

-R.F. Kuang, Yellowface

"Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing, is opening doors to other lands. Writing gives you power to shape your own world when the real one hu…"

-R.F. Kuang, Yellowface

Cover of Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2) by Colm Tóibín

21. Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2)

By: Colm Tóibín

3.82

Format: 294 pages, Hardcover

From the beloved, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly movi… read more

Similar categories in Colm Tóibín's Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2) book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

22. The Bee Sting

By: Paul Murray

3.96

Format: 656 pages, Hardcover

From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and … read more

Similar categories in Paul Murray's The Bee Sting book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • book club
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"It is for love. You are doing this for love."

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"We all have problems. But often instead of accepting the truth about ourselves, we cover it up. We try to make ourselves the way we think we’re expected to be."

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"Maybe every era has an atrocity woven into its fabric. Maybe every society is complicit in terrible things and only afterwards gets around to pretending they didn’t know. When the kids ask, tell them…"

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"Maybe that’s how it will go – instead of one definitive cataclysm, a series of ‘anomalies’, each time lasting longer, with the stretches of what you call normal life becoming further and further apar…"

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

Cover of The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

23. The Marriage Portrait

By: Maggie O'Farrell

4.01

Format: 355 pages, Hardcover

An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here. The author of award-winning Hamnet… read more

Similar categories in Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • italy
  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
"May I keep this?"

-Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

"Was there no hope? the tigress seemed to be asking her. Will I always remain here? Will I never return home?"

-Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

"The animal was orange, burnished gold, fire made flesh; she was power and anger, she was vicious and exquisite;"

-Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

"Is it possible for a woman to be so unsettled in spirit that a child will have no hope of taking root within her?"

-Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

Cover of Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

24. Shrines of Gaiety

By: Kate Atkinson

3.85

Format: 439 pages, Hardcover

London 1926. Roaring Twenties. Corruption. Seduction. Debts due. In a country still recovering … read more

Similar categories in Kate Atkinson's Shrines of Gaiety book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
"The library had not been a career choice. After all, who would choose to be a librarian?"

-Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety

"His head was always in the clouds. 'I'm writing a novel,' he told her. As if that was something to crow about. As if there weren't enough novels in the world already."

-Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety

Cover of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

25. Demon Copperhead

By: Barbara Kingsolver

4.50

Format: 560 pages, Hardcover

"Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose." Set in t… read more

Similar categories in Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
"A kid is a terrible thing to be, in charge of nothing."

-Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

"I can still feel in my bones how being mad was the one thing holding me together."

-Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

"Counting on Jesus to save the day is no more real than sending up the Batman signal."

-Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

"life is a wild, impetuous ride. There could be good shit up ahead, don’t rule it out."

-Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

Cover of Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

26. Trespasses

By: Louise Kennedy

4.00

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering novel about a young woman caught between … read more

Similar categories in Louise Kennedy's Trespasses book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4) by Richard Osman

27. The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)

By: Richard Osman

4.49

Format: 421 pages, Hardcover

Shocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club. An old friend in the antiques business has been … read more

Similar categories in Richard Osman's The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4) book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • fiction
  • audiobook
"His authentic indifference seems to delight them."

-Richard Osman, The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)

"I think Psychopaths wear lipstick too,' says Joyce."

-Richard Osman, The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)

"I love you,' he says. Because what else is there to say?"

-Richard Osman, The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)

"Sure,' says Ron. 'She wants to kill me. Bake her some scones."

-Richard Osman, The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)

Cover of The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page

28. The Keeper of Stories

By: Sally Page

4.08

Format: 386 pages, Kindle Edition

She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard … read more

Similar categories in Sally Page's The Keeper of Stories book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"Perhaps guilt is like a disease. You can have it without knowing you do."

-Sally Page, The Keeper of Stories

"I think it's in people stories that you discover the best of what we can be."

-Sally Page, The Keeper of Stories

"I don't think guilt asks for permission to come in. I don't think it knocks and waits politely on the mat."

-Sally Page, The Keeper of Stories

"I figured out long ago that if I listen to the few people who shout at me, I'm making them more important than they are. What they say will stay with me, upset me, and those loud voices would go on a…"

-Sally Page, The Keeper of Stories

Cover of The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page

29. The Book of Beginnings

By: Sally Page

4.24

Format: 384 pages, Paperback

From the author of the phenomenal bestseller The Keeper of Stories, comes the next uplifting story … read more

Similar categories in Sally Page's The Book of Beginnings book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • book club
  • fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Opposite of Success by Eleanor Elliott Thomas

30. The Opposite of Success

By: Eleanor Elliott Thomas

3.06

Format: 272 pages, Paperback

All Lorrie wants is to get promoted, accept her body and end global warming. By Friday. Is that rea… read more

Similar categories in Eleanor Elliott Thomas's The Opposite of Success book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • fiction
Cover of The Days Toppled Over by Vidya Madabushi

31. The Days Toppled Over

By: Vidya Madabushi

3.84

Format: 352 pages, Paperback

Malli has an anxiety disorder that renders her unable to speak outside her own home. The highlight … read more

Similar categories in Vidya Madabushi's The Days Toppled Over book and Sarah Winman's Still Life

  • audiobook

15 best-selling book club books like Still Life by Sarah Winman

Transform Your Habits

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

Shankari Chandran

4.21

Transform Your Habits

Tom Lake

Ann Patchett

3.99

Transform Your Habits

The Covenant of Water

Abraham Verghese

4.45

Transform Your Habits

Lola in the Mirror

Trent Dalton

4.41

View all the books

20 Best fiction books like Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

Transform Your Habits

Trust

Hernan Diaz

3.83

Transform Your Habits

Old God's Time

Sebastian Barry

3.85

Transform Your Habits

Homecoming

Kate Morton

4.07

Transform Your Habits

Tom Lake

Ann Patchett

3.99

View all the books

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