A Fictionalized Account of the Life of the Inventor of the Theremin Wins the Giller Prize

One of the more entertaining novels I’ve read this year is Us Conductors, the first novel by Sean Michaels. It’s loosely based around the life of Leon Theremin, the guy who gave us this thing.

The novel follows Theremin from Soviet Russia to the society circles of New York and then back to the gulags of Siberia. It’s not how it really happened, but it doesn’t matter. It’s highly entertaining.

Last night, Michaels was awarded the Giller Prize, the top literary prize in Canada. Buy the book and read it.