Sarah Winman

Author

Sarah Winman is a British author and former actress whose luminous, deeply emotional novels have earned her critical acclaim and a devoted readership. Her writing is characterised by its lyricism, its generosity of spirit, and its ability to find beauty and meaning in the ordinary moments of human connection. Born in Essex and raised in... London, Winman trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and worked in theatre and television for many years before turning to writing. That background in performance gives her fiction a strong sense of voice and character — her books feel intimate and theatrical in the best sense. Her debut novel, When God Was a Rabbit, published in 2011, became a word-of-mouth bestseller. The novel follows Elly and her eccentric family across four decades, exploring love, loss, and the bonds that survive even the most devastating events. It was praised for its warmth, its humour, and its emotional honesty. A Year of Marvellous Ways (2015) told the story of a reclusive old woman in Cornwall and a traumatised young soldier in the aftermath of the Second World War. Tin Man (2017) was a compact, exquisite novel about love, friendship, and grief between two men and a woman in 1960s and 70s Oxford. Still Life, published in 2021, became her biggest critical and commercial success. Set between Florence and London from 1944 to the 1960s, the novel follows a group of characters — including a young English soldier who encounters an art historian in a Tuscan cellar during the war — whose lives become intertwined across decades. The book is a love letter to Italy, to art, to chosen family, and to the beauty of living with open-hearted attention. It was a Sunday Times bestseller and won the hearts of readers worldwide. Winman narrated the audiobook of Still Life herself, and her performance is widely regarded as exceptional — intimate, musical, and deeply felt. The audiobook has become the definitive way to experience the novel for many fans. Sarah Winman lives in London. Her books and audiobooks are essential for anyone who wants fiction that is tender, beautiful, and full of the quiet conviction that love — in all its forms — is what makes life worth living. Read more Show less