Olivia Laing for The Silver Book

'SUBLIME' _THE NEW YORK TIMES_Olivia Laing is an internationally acclaimed writer and critic. They're the author of eight books, including _The Lonely City_, _Everybody_ and the Sunday Times #1 bestseller _The Garden Against Time_. THEY JOIN US TO CELEBRATE THE PAPERBACK RELEASE OF _THE SILVER BOOK._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 Cinecitta, the studio where Casanova's Venice will be ingeniously assembled. Then in the spring, the lovers move together to the set of _SALO_, 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 . . ._
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