The Silver Book
Olivia Laing
Penguin
RRP $36.99

Review by Wendy Tucker

Olivia Laing is a New York critic and the author of eight books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her work has been translated into over 22 languages.

I was unsure about reviewing this fictional account of real things because I thought it might be too narrow in its appeal. Yes, it is set in the audacious dream factory of 1970s Italian cinema, but it is an investigation into the difficult relationship between artifice and truth, illusion and reality, love and power. It can also be read as a fascinating insight into the film-making process of the great filmmakers and as a murder mystery.

The years from 1962 to 1982, and peaking in the late 70s, are known as Italy’s ‘Years of Iron’. Neofascism was on the rise, and the far right was flourishing. At the same time Italian cinema was receiving world acclaim for its brilliance. The unease of the political background is present throughout the novel.

In 1974, Nicholas Wade, a 22-year-old art student flees from London to Venice.

While sketching by the canal, he arouses the erotic interest of set and costume designer Danilo Donati. Donati is known as the magician and great illusionist of Italian cinema and is in Venice to make sketches for Federico Fellini’s forthcoming opulent biopic Casanova. He will also soon become the costume designer for Pier Paolo Pasolini’s incendiary graphic account of fascist sadism, Salo.

Donati takes Nicholas as both his lover and apprentice and they head to Rome to the Cinecitta Studios. Here in this city within a city where entire European cities and even Venice’s Grand Canal are recreated, Nicolas meets the volatile and effusive Fellini. Nicholas wins over the maestro and other great craftsmen with his drawings and designs. Yet Nicholas’s job and life in this film world are still dependent on Donati’s continued love.

Donati and Nicholas travel to rural Italy where Pasolini is making Salo and film-making is ‘… a daily descent into hell’. Salo is Pasolini’s artistic rage against fascism in this horrifying fable.

But Nicholas has a secret. He is part of this world of illusion. Within this time of rising political tensions, he unknowingly sets in motion an unintended tragedy.

This is a fascinating historical novel based on real people and real events. It also has haunting echoes of the times we now live in.