The Conductor by Sarah Quigley
June 1941: Nazi troops surround the city of Leningrad, planning to shell and starve the people into submission. Most of the cultural elite is evacuated, but the famous composer Shostakovich stays behind to defend his city. That winter, the bleakest in Russian history, the Party orders Karl Eliasberg, the shy, difficult conductor of a second-rate orchestra, to prepare for the task of a lifetime. He is to conduct a performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony – a haunting, defiant new piece, which will be relayed by loudspeakers to the front lines. Eliasberg's musicians are starving, and scarcely have the strength to carry their instruments. But for five freezing months the conductor stubbornly drives on his musicians, depriving those who falter of their bread rations. Slowly the music begins to dissolve the nagging hunger, the exploding streets, the slow deaths... but at what cost? Eliasberg's relationships are strained, obsession takes hold, and his orchestra is growing weaker. Now, it's a struggle not just to perform but to stay alive.
'[An] up-all-night page-turner.. conveying the extraordinary life-saving properties of music, and hope' Observer.
'An extraordinary period of history brought into proximity by a daring novelist... Superbly imagined and brilliantly realised' Lloyd Jones.
'Deserves to be mentioned alongside Jane Smiley, Andrea Levy and Rose Tremai' Sunday Herald.
'Extraordinary ... a symphony on the power of love – the love of music, home, family, city... A triumph on every level' New Zealand Herald.
'An extraordinary period of history brought into proximity by a daring novelist... Superbly imagined and brilliantly realised' Lloyd Jones.
'Deserves to be mentioned alongside Jane Smiley, Andrea Levy and Rose Tremai' Sunday Herald.
'Extraordinary ... a symphony on the power of love – the love of music, home, family, city... A triumph on every level' New Zealand Herald.
Sarah Quigley is a New Zealand-born novelist, poet and critic. She has a D.Phil. in Literature from the University of Oxford, and has won several awards for her writing. Since winning the Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers Residency in 2000, Quigley has been based in Berlin.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781908800022 |
| ISBN 10 | 190880002X |
| Title | The Conductor |
| Author | Sarah Quigley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Head of Zeus |
| Year published | 2012-07-01 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Prizes | Winner of Nielsen BookData New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award 2012 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |