The Silver Book
(Author) Olivia LaingSHORTLISTED FOR BLACKWELL’S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025‘It is dangerous to want someone this much. He has always known it, from the very first night.’It is September 1974. Two men meet by chance in Venice.
One is a young English artist, in panicked flight from London. The other is Danilo Donati, the magician of Italian cinema, the designer responsible for realising the spectacular visions of Fellini and Pasolini. Donati is in Venice to produce sketches for Fellini’s Casanova.
A young – and beautiful – apprentice is just what he needs. He sweeps Nicholas to Rome, into the looking-glass world of Cinecittà, the studio where Casanova’s Venice will be ingeniously assembled. Then in the spring, the lovers move together to the set of Salò, Pasolini’s horrifying fable of fascism.
But Nicholas has a secret and in this world of constant illusion, his real nature passes unseen. Amidst the rising tensions of Italy’s ‘Years of Lead’, he acts as an accelerant, setting in motion a tragedy he didn’t intend. The Silver Book is at once a queer love story and a noirish thriller, set in the dream factory of cinema.
It’s a fictional account of real things, and an investigation into the difficult relationship between artifice and truth, illusion and reality, love and power.
Olivia Laing
Olivia Laing is a British writer known for her insightful and introspective non-fiction works. She is best known for her critically acclaimed book "The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone" which explores the experience of loneliness through the lens of art and culture. Laing's writing style is lyrical and deeply personal, blending memoir with cultural criticism. She has made significant contributions to the genre of creative non-fiction, infusing her work with empathy and intellectual rigor. Laing's work has resonated with readers around the world, sparking conversations about mental health, identity, and the human experience.
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