I’ve long been drawn to Laing’s non-fiction, but her novels have often left me cold. The Silver Book is perhaps less exciting than her earlier non-fiction work but feels like an improvement on Crudo. It’s certainly more evocative. Just still feels like it’s missing the insight of Laing’s non-fiction.

I was asked to review this by NetGalley and loved this

This was so beautifully written in the world of 197os and italian cinema. Nicholas flees to Venice and meets set and costume designer Danilo Donati who is working on two films.

This is intimate with complex charcters, one can't believe this is is history now as we are looking at 50 or so years ago


Beautiful and due for publication November 6 2025

Laing's first novel, Crudo, felt too shackled to its own moment for me to like it unreservedly or to feel that it would stand the test of time. The Silver Book is a more interesting project. It's a short novel that follows the making of both Pasolini's film Salò and Fellini's film Casanova through the eyes of Nicholas, a young English gay man who comes to Italy in flight from trauma and guilt, and becomes involved with Danilo Donati, who designed the sets and costumes for both films. I know nothing about movies and have never seen either of these two, although I am aware of Salò's reputation: it's an adaptation of de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom that allegorises the brutality of fascism, and sounds like it is unbelievably gross and nauseating to watch. Laing creates tension by putting Nicholas's naive perspective (and a little bit of Dani's more worldly one) against what we know of history, including Pasolini's brutal unsolved murder at the age of forty-five and the rumours that he was attempting to buy back film reels stolen from his warehouse. The Silver Book is, I think, ultimately a novel about the simultaneous hiding and revealing of queer life that some mid-century art scenes facilitated, and also about the warping effects of power. I'm not sure that it entirely succeeds. Laing insistently skims the surface of events in a way that is obviously a deliberate choice (Nicholas must remain naive right to the end, after all), but that forecloses her ability to dig deeper into the dynamics that we glimpse between individuals and institutions. I really liked it, though. It's extremely evocative—there are some amazing scenes in the workshop when they're building surreal objects for Casanova, in particular, like a giant whale that you can walk around inside—the dialogue is good, and there's some excellent food writing. I'm pleased to see her fiction developing in this way.

3 stars

This is a pretty short novel and a fast read but it definitely felt a little forgettable to me.

I struggled to connect with the characters and did not feel much for them, but I quite liked the overall vibe. The dialogue is written without any quote marks which did make it a bit harder to follow, in my opinion.

It took me some time to really feel interested in what was going on. I did not know much about Pasolini and Italian cinema but I guess, for readers who are interested in these themes, this can be a great read.

The most memorable thing about this novel is this somewhat cliché but evocative, very Italian 70s vibe, this community of queer artists, mixed with a sense of freedom and cautiously tied with history and the culture and evolution of fascism in Italy (and the world in general). I believe that for anyone interested in Pasolini’s life story, and looking for a story that is inspired by true events but still counts as fiction, this could be a delicious read.

I enjoyed reading The Silver Book but I feel it wasn’t a book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House for sending me this eARC !

Such a lush, rich premise for a romantic novel - Laing evokes 1970s Italy, and the heady world of Italian cinema, in mesmerising prose. There is - fittingly - something quite illusory about the way this queer love story plays out. A beautiful tale of glamour, love, politics and art that will sweep you up entirely.

I haven’t read anything by Olivia Laing before this new novel but will certainly check out the others. Laing’s description of life in 1970’s Italy is so vivid I felt I was there. The story is largely based around real events and this made it all the more interesting.

The Silver Book is an intriguing piece of queer historical fiction. Laing's prose is like an evocation, at once visceral and dreamlike. It's the perfect match for the setting of 1970s Italian film sets, mirroring the sleight of hand that brings each film to life.

The novel plays with many of the themes and preoccupations of Laing's non-fiction: loneliness, violence, art and queer / outsider identities. I sometimes felt as if this unlocked another layer of meaning, which readers less familiar with Laing's back catalogue might not be able to access: as a standalone work, I'm not sure it has quite the same impact. Ultimately the world she conjures and its central themes are far more compelling than the central character, Nicholas.

The Silver Book is a hypnotic read, written with the surreal intensity of an arthouse film.

The Silver Book takes place in 1974 as a young English artist travels from London to Venice and meets Danilo Donati. Donati is a designer who has worked for Fellini and Pasolini and is in Venice to produce sketches for Fellini’s Casanova. He needs a young and beautiful apprentice so he takes Nicholas to Rome. Donati and Nicholas become lovers and move to the set of Salò, a tale of fascism. Nicholas is new to the movie world and he ends up setting in motion a tragedy he didn’t intend.

I really enjoyed the writing of this book. It reminded me of The Artist by Lucy Steeds in tone. The Silver Book is told in small chapters that sometimes only last a page. The story is fast-paced and compelling. This book is very atmospheric and it really felt like I was in Italy. This was very impactful and I didn’t realise these filmmakers were real people and that this was a somewhat real story. I personally really connected to Nicholas and I found his perspective as a gay man whose family had abandoned him to be powerful. This was a fast read as I read it in about 3 hours and I had a great time reading it. I’m giving this 4.5 stars rounded up to a 5.

The Silver Book is a lush, atmospheric novel set in the world of 1970s Italian cinema, where a young English artist, fleeing his old life, is drawn into a heady affair with celebrated designer Danilo Donati. From the mirrored sets of *Casanova* to the unsettling production of *Salò*, their romance plays out against a backdrop of glamour, political unrest, and the blurred line between illusion and truth—until a dangerous secret threatens to destroy them both.
With Laing’s vivid, sensual prose and masterful weaving of history and fiction, it’s an intoxicating blend of romance, intrigue, and cultural portraiture.

Blinked and it was over. Laing’s The Silver Book plays out like movie scenes flickering across the screen. The details are beautiful, the narrative captivating, and the pace quick. I just wish I had connected more deeply with the characters. At times it felt like a script waiting for the author to fully breathe life into them.

I loved the mix of fact and fiction, but I kept wanting more from each side. As pure nonfiction, I'm anticipating this could have been a five-star read for me, and maybe just as much if it had leaned fully into the fictional world. There is a chilling message here about how fascism never truly went away. It simply changed shape, disguised itself, and slipped into the shadows.

I enjoyed the heartbreak, the setting, and the behind-the-scenes glimpses of the movie set. Then came the ending. Heartbreak multiplied, as I felt robbed of the ending I wanted or maybe needed. It is not perfect, but it is highly enjoyable, recommended.

Love Laing's non-fiction, less so the fiction. You would never accuse her of carrying her knowledge lightly and this seems to get in the way of the plot here.

I thought that this book was wonderful. It was my first time reading Olivia Laing as I always feared that her writing would be rather intellectual and remote but this is novel crafted by a wonderful narrative as well as being full of ideas. It’s about a beautiful but rather lost young man, wracked by guilt, who drifts into the path of a famous scenic designer for the great directors of Italian cinema. It’s just very simply and beautifully written and she perfectly captures the men’s nostalgia for a present that they know can’t last while building up to a very neatly plotted betrayal that you don’t see coming but feel the inevitability of once it’s happened. She’s set out to capture just a moment in time and in two men’s lives and through that has created an absolutely beautiful story.

I didn’t know much about Pasolini’s films or his murder in the mid seventies, but Olivia Laing’s novel describes what may have happened with an air of authenticity. Like Nicholas the main character, we are immersed in a surreal world of outrageous costumes and movie sets that his lover Dani creates to bring the creative visions of Pasolini and Fellini into being. The devil is definitely in the detail and the author has done their research and writes with conviction. It’s the novel’s ending that I find less satisfactory. In the aftermath of being discarded by Dani, Nicholas is persuaded into stealing reels of film and it’s uncertain whether his actions contributed to Pasolini’s murder. ‘The Silver Book’ ends abruptly and leaves too many questions unanswered.

This is a fascinating novel, weaving fiction with non-fiction elements and packed with detail. Readers of Laing's previous works will recognise some familiar themes and narrative tangents.

This book could be written about today. Substitute the violence towards gay men in this book for the increasingly terrible treatment of trans people today. The lingering fascism in post-war Italy is an analog for the rise in fascism across Europe today.
In the book, Pasolini is the Cassandra figure, warning of violence just underneath the surface of polite society. From the end of the book:
"What he says is a warning. It is a warning about the world, about what he calls the power machine, and how it is affecting every aspect of society. Pasolini says that violence happens on every level of society." People in minority groups living on the margins of society always notice and experience violence first.

A brilliant blend of fact and fiction.

The real life murder of Italian director Pasolini and the fictional romance of English artist and Italian designer involved with films.

The characters are well fleshed out and feel real, the scenes are vivid and flashing like in a movie. The whole books matches with Laing’s particular writing style and makes for an immersive read.

Interesting a good base for further reading on this subject. Well written and immersive and set in italy what more could you want.

This is good!

A lot of history and a real life murder mystery that I had never hear about


Lots to love here and discuss. so I want it to come out and see who else has read it and who thought what. Lots I need to explore!

This book was absolutely love. Laing has such a specific and elegant voice. I had not heard of the murder of Pasolini before and enjoyed learning about that piece of history. The love story is well drawn and both men are compelling in their own ways. This is a slim novel but packs a powerful punch.

"He attacks modernity, he puts it on trial.He thinks consumerism is a new racism because there is so much violence hidden inside it , because it destroys nature and natural behaviour."

Having read and been mesmerised Olivia Laing's The Garden Against Time, it was time to read some of their fiction.

The Silver Book is a hypnotising story set in the world of Italian film -making of the 1970s.

Nicholas is escaping the tragedy of a relationship in London and heads to Italy: Venice- where he meets Danilo Donati- the leader and maestro of filmset design. Their relationship takes them into the worlds of the extraordinary film makers; Fellini ( the creation of Casanova) and Pasolini ( the film of Salò) - both considered masterpieces of their day; films that challenge the viewer even to this day.

Combining fiction with fact, Laing takes us into Nicholas' world as he navigates the film industry, the desires, whims and demands of the designer and directors and also tries to find peace within himself.

In some senses, this novel feels like an "Arthouse" film - the taut yet somehow languid prose; the beguiling imagery of everyday life among this unique group of people and the sometimes violent and provocative imagery that is being created within both films.

The contradictions, turmoil of emotions and consequences of the gay lifestyles of the lead protagonists in early/mid 1970s Italy add a definite sense of period.

Aa a book exploring the mindset of the directors and the abstract nature of imagery then this is certainly a powerful read. Olivia Laing has written a novel that will challenge, bewilder and capture equally- an author who is growing in stars and stature.

This is a book that will divide readers but is certainly worth exploring - seductive and riveting and will certainly encourage reflection on the pyschological impact of the war upon filmmakers in the subsequent years.