It's April 1st, 1919, and the young independent publisher John Pace Seavering is setting up his office: a couple of dilapidated rooms in a romantic Manhattan tower. With only enough capital to put out one book, John finds himself besieged by two authors: Denny McCleary, John's brash and gifted college friend, and Jessie Brewster a popular black jazz singer and John's very secret mistress. Meanwhile, another drama is playing out in the anteroom: A machine of mysterious provenance and purpose has arrived and is spewing out stacks of pages. What's written on these pages will throw John's every hope and plan into disarray.

"A wonderful new work”¦of serious whimsy, of glittering style and dark substance”¦THE VIOLET HOUR balances heights of wit with depths of feeling." –NY Times