Description

Before ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Suzanne’ and ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’, the young Leonard Cohen was a gifted writer of prose. In this previously unpublished work, readers will discover the magic that animated Cohen’s unique voice was present from the very beginning.

A Ballet of Lepers comprises Cohen’s first novel and short stories, written between 1956 in Montreal and 1961, when he had settled on the island of Hydra in Greece. The titular story follows a reclusive man whose life is invigorated when his grandfather comes to live with him. The book explores themes that would permeate Cohen’s later work, from shame and unworthiness to sexual desire and longing. Meditative, surprising and provocative, A Ballet of Lepers reveals the great artist like never before.

Publisher Review

Captures all the gorgeous poeticism that we have come to love about his music, as well as a youthful naivete and a playfulness, a rawness that I wouldn’t have predicted — OTTESSA MOSHFEGH * * CNN, Best Books of 2022 * * A fascinating collection of Leonard Cohen’s early fiction foreshadows motifs and concerns that the performer later mined across decades * * Observer * * Cohen’s lyrical flair and talent with words is apparent throughout * * Independent * * A posthumous treat from the late Leonard Cohen . . . A cut above what most rock stars could dream of writing * * Telegraph * * A curious and compulsive examination of the boundaries of honesty and cruelty . . . Poetically astute and quite psychologically unhinged * * Guardian * * The writing deals with themes that would come to feature prominently in his magnificent canon: alienation and sexual desire, cruelty, loneliness, the search for love. Dark and unsettling * * Daily Mail * * Veering between the grim and the grandiose, the melancholy and the melodramatic, these early fictions from charismatic Leonard Cohen . . . deal in ecstasy and existential agony with worldweary narrators yearning for an indefinable something * * Daily Mail Scotland * * Praise for The Flame: The last word in love and despair . . . Full of youthful spark, beauty and romance . . . Elegantly and posthumously published . . . Leonard Cohen does not use language to pose, startle or reinvent. Words are his old comrades, and see him through to the end * * Observer, Poetry book of the month * * [A] fiercely brilliant posthumous collection . . . provides fascinating insight into Cohen’s unique talent . . . The entire collection is an intricate exploration of the happenings of the human heart — Anita Sethi * * iNews * * Cohen was a poet before he was a musician, and with this posthumous collection his career completes its circle. Encompassing poems and lyrics written in his last decade, as well as self-portraits and notebook extracts, the book is introduced by his son Adam Cohen * * Financial Times, Best Poetry Books of 2018 * *