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|title=The Conductor

|sort=Conductor

|publisher=Head of Zeus

|date=July 2012

|website=http://www.sarahvquigley.com

|video=

|summary=A novel that remained at number one in the New Zealand best seller list for 20 weeks, this is a fascinating, fictionalisation of one of the more gruesome chapters in world history. Sarah Quigley hasn't pulled punches, but in the process has also written a beautiful story of love, hope and indomitability.

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Composer Dmitri Shostakovich can block anything out whilst he's writing music: his wife Nina's voice, his children arguing, even the side effects of living in Stalinist Leningrad. However, life is about to become more than an annoying distraction from music as Germany declares war on Russia and gradually initiates what history will come to know as the Siege of Leningrad. Shostakovich then realises, just as gradually, that his music may serve a purpose to sustain his compatriots in the absence of sufficient food and hope. His Seventh Symphony becomes a protest against oppression, but he needs an orchestra to play it and the top musicians have been evacuated to save the country's cultural heritage. He therefore turns to Karl Eliasberg, the aspiring but third rate conductor of a cobbled together orchestra. Music can create miracles but, for Eliasberg and his musicians, being able to play it will be the biggest miracle of all.