“An unexpected love story, a political parable, and an intimate portrait of regeneration. The Student Conductor is one of the finest debut novels in years. The story glides along in a language both smart and chiseled, while Ford shows himself in full control of the music on and off the page. Here comes a new voice, already fully nuanced.”

—Colum McCann, author of Dancer

“Robert Ford writes with a lyric suppleness and a jeweler’s eye for the exquisite detail. The Student Conductor is the sort of book Henry James might have given us had he lived into our troubled and troubling times.”

—Joseph Skibell, author of A Blessing on the Moon

“Robert Ford reminds me of a young John Fowles. It’s all here—eroticism, classical music, politics, and the uncanny, all swirled into the richest possible stew. Taut and beautifully written, The Student Conductor is a remarkable debut.”

—James Magnuson, author of Windfall

“Robert Ford may be a first-time novelist, but in The Student Conductor he somehow demonstrates the command of a maestro. He knows which notes he wants to bring forth--elegance, astringency, epic sadness--and he has the gift of sustaining them in the reader's mind long after the book has been closed.”

—Stephen Harrigan, author of The Gates of the Alamo

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