The Conductor
ABOUT
THE BOOK
In June 1941, Nazi troops march on Leningrad and surround it. Hitler’s plan is to shell, bomb, and starve the city into submission. Most of the cultural elite are evacuated early in the siege, but Dmitri Shostakovich, the most famous composer in Russia, stays on to defend his city, digging ditches and fire-watching. At night he composes a new work. But after Shostakovich and his family are forced to evacuate, only Karl Eliasberg – a shy and difficult man, conductor of the second-rate Radio Orchestra – and an assortment of musicians are left behind in Leningrad to face an unendurable winter and start rehearsing the finished score of Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
The Conductor was a stand out read which was hugely popular with our customers, many of whom would not have been previously familiar with the time or place the story is set in. The novel is much more than just an eye-opener however; its insights into inner conflict and the need for art as a buttress against barbarism made it memorable.
The Conductor is a remarkable story of friendship, dedication and hope with a flowing plot making it a pleasure to read. It is a well researched novel weaving fact and fiction, featuring brilliant characterizations and information which makes great reading for anyone interested in historical detail.