In this, his much-loved first novel, Leonard Cohen etches the youth and early manhood of Lawrence Breavman, the only son of wealthy Jewish parents in Montreal. Finding literary fame as a student, Breavman does penance through manual labour, before eventually fleeing to New York to escape the claims of his family and native city. In a tour de force of lyrical writing, Cohen paints a vivid, intoxicating picture of a young man's journey through the chaos and complexity of life, love and literature.
