Us Conductors by Sean Michaels

We must declare a conflict of interests here. Author Sean Michaels was, once upon a time, a writer for The Skinny, so a sense of solidarity has us willing a good write-up for his Giller Prize winning (Canada's Booker) debut novel Us Conductors even upon cracking the cover. The problem evaporates as the pages that follow prove to contain an enticing, cross-continental escapade buzzing with the electric energy of the Jazz Age. So all's well.

Us Conductors is a version of the story of Lev Termen, inventor of the instrument that put the chill into countless sci-fi movie soundtracks, the theremin. It takes the real account of a life that was in no way short of excitement and inserts a few pulpier flourishes – a little kung-fu here, a murder or two there – to ramp it up into a really good time. It's a romantic tale set in a highly romanticisable period and while the plot is a flurry of noise and motion under the big city lights, it also has a quiet, reflective side: though its story stands right in the middle of world history in one of its most tumultuous periods, the novel never loses track of the man at the centre of the madness. It's the heartfelt humanity of Lev and the lens through which the novel views him that makes it so compelling.