{"product_id":"the-silver-book-9780374618315","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\u003eIt is September 1974. Two men meet 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 realizing the spectacular visions of Fellini and Pasolini. Donati is in Venice to produce sketches for Fellini's \u003ci\u003eCasanova\u003c\/i\u003e. A young apprentice is just what he needs. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHe sweeps Nicholas to Rome and introduces him to the looking-glass world of Cinecittà, the studio where \u003ci\u003eCasanova\u003c\/i\u003e's Venice will be ingeniously assembled. In the spring, the lovers move together to the set of \u003ci\u003eSalò\u003c\/i\u003e, Pasolini's horrifying fable of fascism. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut Nicholas has a secret, and in this world of constant illusion, his real nature passes unseen. Amid the rising tensions of Italy's Years of Lead, he acts as an accelerant, setting in motion a tragedy he doesn't intend. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOlivia Laing's \u003ci\u003eThe Silver Book \u003c\/i\u003eis at once a queer love story and a noirish 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOlivia Laing\u003c\/b\u003e is an internationally acclaimed writer and critic. They're the author of eight books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEverybody\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e number one bestseller \u003ci\u003eThe Garden Against Time\u003c\/i\u003e. Laing's first novel, \u003ci\u003eCrudo\u003c\/i\u003e, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and in 2018 they were awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for nonfiction. Their books have been translated into twenty-one languages.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51705547227410,"sku":"9780374618315","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_6e9396a5-990c-42e4-9783-95d169c7fd4f.jpg?v=1762348894","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-silver-book-9780374618315","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}