{"product_id":"the-silver-book-by-olivia-laing","title":"The Silver Book","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eArt, power, desire, and illusion collide in a hypnotic new novel from Olivia Laing, set in the months leading up to the murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1975.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt is September 1974. Two men meet in Venice. One, Nicholas, is a young artist, plausible, English, desperate. The other is Danilo Donati, the magician of Italian cinema, the illusionist responsible for realizing the spectacular visions of Fellini and Pasolini. Donati is in Venice to produce sketches for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eFellini’s Casanova\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. A young apprentice is just what he needs.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHe brings Nicholas back to Rome and introduces him to the looking-glass world of Cinecittà, the studio where Casanova’s Venice will be ingeniously assembled. In the spring, the lovers move together to the set of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSalò\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, Pasolini’s horrifying fable of fascism.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut Nicholas has a secret, and in this world of constant illusion, his real nature passes unseen. Amid the rising tensions of the Years of Lead, he acts as an accelerant, setting in motion a tragedy he didn’t intend.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOlivia Laing's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Silver Book\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is at once a queer love story and a noir-ish thriller, set in the dream factory of cinema. It is a fictional account of real things, and an investigation into the difficult relationship between artifice and truth, illusion and reality, love and power.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Olivia Laing","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44363202920502,"sku":null,"price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0595\/9814\/3542\/files\/225699563.jpg?v=1763757724","url":"https:\/\/peabodybookemporium.com\/products\/the-silver-book-by-olivia-laing","provider":"Peabody Book Emporium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}