• Jill Dearman: Author. Teacher. Editor.


    Author. Teacher. Editor.

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Set in New York City in the late 1940s, The Great Bravura tells the dark tale of Bravura and Susie, who are partners in magic and best friends, as well as occasional bedmates. When the two performers hire the alluring Lena as a third banana to jazz up the act, Bravura falls madly in love. Lena believes in magic—and not just the rabbit-out-of-a hat kind. She encourages Bravura to believe in her own supernatural powers, and when Susie balks, conflict ensues. Once Susie disappears for real during a performance of the classic Disappearing Box act, prime suspect Bravura must move quickly to find her pal—hopefully alive. To prove her innocence, Bravura is forced to uncover the holes in her own story, even if it means incriminating herself, and her precious Lena, in the process.

  • 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, punk photographer, author
  • Jill Dearman is the new Queen of Noir.
    Go Magazine
  • A Colette martini with a drop of Robbe-Grillet vermouth and a Jeanette Winterson olive.
    MICHAEL ATKINSON, film critic, author: Exile Cinema

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