Who killed Susie or did she actually disappear? That's the mystery the Great Bravura, a dashing lesbian magician living in a fantastical and noirish 1947 New York City, must solve to clear herself of murder charges-before she goes to the electric chair.
"Jill Dearman is the New Queen of Noir."
-Go Magazine
"Brutal and magical and sexy as hell. Dearman's noir voice shatters boundaries I never knew existed."
-Augusten Burroughs, author, Running With Scissors.
"A rich, noirish picture of Olde New York with a punk sensibility that rocks the senses. Dearman's characters are twisted, doomed, with a lust for life."
-Roberta Bayley, photographer and author of Patti Smith and Blank Generation Revisited: The Early Days of Punk Rock.
"Sapphically ardent, meta-absurd, and Nin-sexy all at once, Jill Dearman's tale is a triumph of mysterious pleasures: a Colette martini with a drop of Robbe-Grillet vermouth and a Jeanette Winterson olive."
-Michael Atkinson, author of Exile Cinema and Hemingway Deadlights.
"The Great Bravura straddles two worlds: her feet are firmly planted on earth, among a gritty ragtag group of early-20th century circus performers, while her hands reach for the stars, drawing the reader into a magical mystery realm where fantasy and sorcery are commonplace. Dearman builds on the tension created by the two milieus bumping into each other on the page to ultimately create a morality tale reminiscent of another era?the tragedies of ancient Greece."
-Aaron Krach, artist, journalist, and author of Half-Life
"With the illusion of a good magic show and the captivating edge of the early 20th century, The Great Bravura spellbinds readers in its twisted tale."
-RT Reviews
