The Reluctant Conductor

by Tim Turner, Moisey Gorbaty

Overview

Feeling stifled as a Jew living in a Moldovan shtetl, violinist Elazar just wants to find love and eventually succeed his father as conductor of the family band and hardware business.

But that could take years, and in 1922 Kalarash, he's known all the girls his age since he was a child. He would love to move to Kishinev, Odesa, or Kyiv and become a musician, but it would kill his mama, and he'd feel guilty for the rest of his life.

At his cousin's wedding, Elazar falls for Ita Kaplan, an heiress from Bolgrad, but she plans to move to Paris and become a painter. He's then taken by Mariam Gabashvili, the daughter of a local vintner, but is forbidden to marry her because she's not Jewish.

History-the rise of Stalin, his brutal takeover of Ukraine, and later Hitler's invasion of the USSR-grants Elazar's wishes in ways he never dreams, sending he and his family on an epic flight to Uzbekistan, where they endure the war, and then back to Moldova, where they pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

With cunning, class and determination, one violinist brings to life a turbulent era in the Soviet Union, where, while life was punishing and brutally unfair, he finds music in devastation and conducts his family-his orchestra-in such a way as to not let the horrors defeat them or hate to overcome them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798989912414
Publisher:	Bessarabian Publishers
Publication date:	02/02/2024
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

The writer of six plays including the critically acclaimed Out Late, as well as High Time, Chicken and Fish and Prairie Fire, TIM TURNER has written full time since the early 1980s. He has also written an original screenplay, a libretto, adapted two of his plays into screenplays and written many short plays. As Executive Director of The Playwrights Group in Los Angeles he produced Seven Playwrights Exposing Themselves, an evening of short plays, and the next year, Tales from Hollywood Boulevard. He has three photographs in the permanent collection of The New Orleans Museum of Art. As Associate Editor, he was on the team for American City Business Journals that started The Jacksonville Business Journal, The Charlotte Business Journal and The San Francisco Business Times. His articles and photos have appeared in publications such as Money Magazine, The San Francisco Examiner, Hemispheres, American Banker, and National Real Estate Investor. A fifth-generation native of Durango, Colorado, he lives in Los Angeles and Laguna Beach.

A prolific composer and the proprietor of Moisey's Piano Service where he tunes and restores pianos, MOISEY GORBATY also teaches piano, guitar, music theory and Russian Language. Born in Kishinev, Moldova, he began playing accordion at the age of four, won his first music competition at age eight, and since the age of 15 supported his family working as a concertmaster and leader of union bands. He graduated from Stefan Neaga College of Music in 1969, the Moldovan Conservatory of Music in 1973, and served in the Soviet Army from 1973 to 1974. He immigrated to Los Angeles in 1989 via Vienna and Rome and started his piano service with a wife, a three-year-old daughter, no money and speaking only Russian.

Editorial Reviews

2023-12-19
An indomitable man guides his Jewish family through the horrors of World War II in Eastern Europe in this debut novel.

Readers meet Elazar Gershovich in 1922. But the backstory is that, in 1903, the Gershoviches were living a comfortable life in Kishinev, Moldova, when the Christians attacked the Jews in a pogrom. Little Elazar was thrown from a window, his brother Hershel had his leg broken, their mother was gang-raped, and two siblings were murdered. The family fled north to Kalarash, Moldova, and started over. Now, Elazar is an accomplished violinist in his musical family (Papa loves the accordion, Mama prefers the clarinet, and Hershel plays percussion). Yet the protagonist longs to test his wings. But first, what he really wants is a girlfriend. He becomes smitten with Ita Kaplan, a winsome young artist from a wealthy family. Unfortunately, she plans to join her three sisters in Paris, and France is too daunting for Elazar. Then there is Mariam Gabashvili, but, since she’s not Jewish, Papa forbids the match. Soon, plans change for Ita (because of the political landscape), and so she marries Elazar and they have two children, Rivka and Ira. When the war comes, Elazar and his family and Hershel and his wife—their two sons are conscripted by the Russians—flee east ahead of the German bombardment. After a monumental trek—on foot, by train, and by boat—they end up in Uzbekistan for the duration of the war. Lice are a constant scourge, and these pests are probably responsible for a family member contracting typhus. At war’s end, Elazar and his clan make their way back to Moldova and the bombed-out ruins. But will the treasure that Elazar buried in the backyard in Kalarash and the violin he hid in the cellar still be there? Will there be music as these irrepressible survivors try to rebuild their lives?

Turner and Gorbaty’s engaging debut novel is promising and timely, considering what is going on in the main protagonist’s part of the world. Elazar, the narrator, carries the story and will win readers over right from the start. There is subtle humor in his desperate search for his dream girl, equal parts idealism and lust. And Ita is a surprise. Readers will expect that coming from an affluent family, she would not be able to handle adversity. But when the world comes crashing down, she is by no means a quitter. She is in fact a resourceful mother and loving wife through thick and thin (mostly thin). And Elazar is forever the optimist because positivity costs nothing, and pessimism is pointless, at least in his eyes. A scene involving the family member fighting typhus is beautiful and poignant (Dickens would approve). Of course, in war everyone suffers, and one would hope that the misery would bring common understanding and forbearance. But not in Moldova. In the Kalarash shtetl, a simple code evolves. In a precarious universe, you live every day as if it’s your last, so “one: have some fun, two: try to do some good, and three: don’t screw anyone over too badly.” Surely, there are more exalted codes of conduct, but these people are not given to moral preening.

A moving family tale with a strong cast that readers will love.

Kirkus Reviews