Author(s): Leonard Cohen

Novel | Canada | Short Stories

An uncovered novel from the world's greatest lyricist Leonard Cohen. In A Ballet of Lepers Leonard Cohen explores themes that would come to permeate his later works - shame stemming from feelings of unworthiness; sexual desire, in all its sacred and profane dimensions; and longing, whether it be for love, family, freedom or transcendence. A haunting examination of these elements in tandem, this novel and stories are about toxic relationships and the lengths we go to maintain them. Meditative and surprising, A Ballet of Lepers offers a playful, provocative and penetrating glimpse into the world-weary lives of Cohen's characters, and a window into the early art of a storytelling master.

 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 * *
[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 * *
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 * *
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 * *
Cohen's enduring, beautiful bleakness is the draw here. His gift for understated melancholia is on each blackening page * * Daily Mail, Best Books of 2018 * *

Author Biography: Leonard Cohen began his artistic career in 1956 with the publication of his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. He went on to publish 12 more books, including two celebrated novels, and gained worldwide recognition as an iconic singer-songwriter. He released 14 studio albums, including three in the last years of his life when he also became one of the most acclaimed arena-performing artists in the world.

Among his numerous honours, he is the recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award 2010, the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature 2011, the inaugural New England PEN Award for Excellence in Lyrics 2012, the 2016 Juno Awards for Song of the Year and Album of the Year, and he has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the US Songwriters Hall of Fame. He died in November 2016.