Us Conductors

(Paperback)

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'A wonderful book ... His story is so extraordinary and so beautifully and deftly told ... heartbreaking' Observer, Books of the Year 'The grace of Michaelss style makes these times and places seem entirely new. He succeeds at one of the hardest things a writer can do: he makes music seem to sing from the pages of a novel' Giller Prize Jury Locked in a cabin, on a ship bound for Leningrad, Lev Termen types a letter to Clara, his one true love. He recalls his early years as a scientist, inventing the musical theremin and other electric marvels, and the Kremlins dream that these creations could help infiltrate capitalism itself. Instead, Manhattan infiltrated Termen he fell in love with the citys jazz clubs and speakeasies, and with Clara, a beautiful young violinist. When Termens spy games fall apart, he returns to find the Motherland not quite as he left it. Exiled to a Siberian gulag, with nothing but his wits to keep him alive, Termen is drawn ever deeper into the labyrinth of Stalins Russia. Only his feelings for Clara, passing through the ether like the theremins song, seem to show a way out.

Reviews

A wonderful book ... His story is so extraordinary and so beautifully and deftly told it is heartbreaking * Observer, Books of the Year 2015 *
The grace of Michaelss style makes these times and places seem entirely new. He succeeds at one of the hardest things a writer can do: he makes music seem to sing from the pages of a novel * Giller Prize jury (Shauna Singh Baldwin, Justin Cartwright and Francine Prose) *
Told with grace and confidence, and in a finely wrought voice, Us Conductors kept surprising me to the end * Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow Child *
Turns out Sean Michaels might not be able to play the theremin, but he can record the noise of the human heart * Glasgow Herald *
Michaels has a natural gift for bringing us to a time and place which allows the suspension of belief and lets you walk every step of the way with him * The Globe and Mail *
Evocative and elegantly written * Express *

Author Bio

Montreals Sean Michaels is a writer, critic and founder of the pioneering music blog Said the Gramophone. Born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1982, he has toured with rock bands, scoured the Paris catacombs and contributed to publications including the Guardian, McSweeneys, Pitchfork and Plan B. Us Conductors is longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2016. @stgramophone usconductors.byseanmichaels.com