The Great Bravura

A Novel

by Jill Dearman

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

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Pub Date Nov 03 2015 | Archive Date Jan 13 2016

Description

Since adolescence, Bravura and salt of the earth Susie have been partners in magic and best friends, as well as occasional bedmates. But when the two performers hire the mysterious and 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. Things really go south during the classic “Disappearing Box” act, when Susie disappears for real. With her pal presumed dead, and Bravura the prime suspect, the magician must act quickly to find Susie—hopefully alive! To prove her innocence, Bravura must uncover the holes in her own story—even if it means incriminating herself, and her precious Lena, in the process.

Advance Praise

“Brutal and magical and sexy as all hell. Dearman’s noir voice shatters boundaries I never knew existed.”
—Augusten Burroughs, New York Times best-selling author of Running With Scissors, Dry, and Magical Thinking

“A rich, noirish picture of olde New York with a punk sensibility that rocks the senses. Dearman’s characters are twisted, doomed, and filled with a lust for life.”
—Roberta Bayley, editor of Punk Magazine and author of Punk, Patti Smith, and Blank Generation Revisited

“Sapphically ardent, meta-absurd, and Nin-sexy all at once, Jill Dearman’s tale is a triumph of mysterious pleasures. Think of it as a Colette martini with a drop of Robbe-Grillet vermouth and a Jeanette Winterson olive.”
—Michael Atkinson, Village Voice and Movieline film critic, author of 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