The Silver Book
Book • 2025
Set in Italy during the volatile 'Years of Lead', 'The Silver Book' follows Nicholas, a young English artist drawn into the glittering, dangerous world of Cinecittà by Danilo Donati, the magician behind the sets of Fellini and Pasolini.
As Nicholas becomes entangled in a web of art, power, desire, and illusion, his secret nature goes unnoticed in a society obsessed with surfaces.
The novel is both a noirish thriller and a meditation on the relationship between artifice and truth, love and power, set against the backdrop of rising political tensions and the looming tragedy of Pasolini's murder.
Laing's prose is lush, intense, and evocative, capturing the decadence and dread of 1970s Rome and the transformative power of cinema.
As Nicholas becomes entangled in a web of art, power, desire, and illusion, his secret nature goes unnoticed in a society obsessed with surfaces.
The novel is both a noirish thriller and a meditation on the relationship between artifice and truth, love and power, set against the backdrop of rising political tensions and the looming tragedy of Pasolini's murder.
Laing's prose is lush, intense, and evocative, capturing the decadence and dread of 1970s Rome and the transformative power of cinema.
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Olivia Laing
Olivia Laing on Passion and Heartbreak in the Golden Age of New Italian Cinema
