OUTSTANDING PRAISE FOR

THE RELUCTANT CONDUCTOR

 

 

A Page Turner

The Reluctant Conductor is most definitely a page turner. It is also timely and beautifully written. The cost of love and war and… the power of music. While the book is set during and after the war, WWll, it could’ve been written yesterday with all that is going on in the world – Ukraine and Russia. The authors, Turner and Gorbaty, have written a powerful historical novel. The hero, Elazar, a violinist, is both tender and audacious; his journey is filled with all of life – love, pain, devastation, and hope.

— Amy Ferris is a screenwriter, influencer, badass and author of Mighty Gorgeous: A Little Book About Messy Love.

 

 

Old Fashioned Storytelling. Deliciously Escapist

This is storytelling from the Old World, a panoramic sweep through the tortured times and people of Eastern Europe. It is the story of Elazar, a young Jewish violinist in search of redemptive love and transportive music, in a world full of ugly bigotry and hate. Drifting back and forth between Uzbekistan and the Ukraine between 1922 and 1944, our hero navigates wedding-night steam rooms and birch-branch floggings; rivers of refugees and rivers of blood; lice and typhoid and refugee tent camps; horse-drawn carriage rides through betrayal and death and flattened shtetls; and the small luxuries of the desperate, a simple plate of chicken and cabbage. But always, always, the ebb and flow of music, weaving in and out of a life lost in the terrifying wilderness, searching for family and home. Does our hero find what he is yearning for? Read the book to find out. I picked it up and had to find out what happened to se to Elazar, a narrator I cared about.

— Richard C. Morais, author of the New York Times and international best-selling novel The Hundred Foot Journey.

 

 

Rich Portrait With Fascinating Historical Accuracy

Tim Turner and Moisey Gorbaty have written an emotionally powerful novel that captures Jewish life in the Soviet Union, before during and after WWII. The Reluctant Conductor depicts the hardship, oppression and hope of the era, combining the engaging storytelling of a novel against the turbulent history of the era.

In addition to finding it a great read, I particularly enjoyed the history as it enabled me to better understand the situation in Ukraine and with Russia today.

— Sean Strub, author of Body Counts, A Memoir of Activism, Sex and Survival.

 

 

Love Outlasts War

This is a short, fast-paced novel about a Jewish family trying to survive WWII in the Soviet Union. The first section of the book is set earlier, in the 1920s, and focuses on the protagonist’s love story. There also are adjustments to be made as their home town becomes part of the USSR — and the effects of communism are felt. Through it all, the characters focus on family. The setup works because, as war breaks out years later when Germany invades, the reader is heavily invested in the characters and the family they built together. From there it is a flight for survival, which is grueling but told in spare detail that should not trigger sensitive readers. The post-war section of the book brings many elements full circle, with satisfying effect.

— Dawn

 

 

Touching Novel of a Jewish Family’s Flight Across War-Torn Europe

The authors touchingly handle themes of loss and belonging as they dramatize, in brisk and poignant scenes, the everyday yet extraordinary experiences of refugee life… Despite the complexity of the political instability of the era, The Reluctant Conductor is at heart an elemental story of one family caught up in the larger context of geopolitics and genocide, a humane examination of the cost in individual lives of ancient hatreds.

— BookLife

 

 

A Moving Family Tale with a Strong Cast That Readers Will Love.

“An indomitable man guides his Jewish family through the horrors of World War II in Eastern Europe... Turner and Gorbaty’s engaging debut novel is promising and timely, considering what is going on in the protagonist’s part of the world. Elazar, the narrator, carries the story and will win readers over right from the start… A scene involving the family member fighting typhus is beautiful and poignant (Dickens would approve)…”

— Kirkus Reviews