A man who shares his name with a famous singer must grapple with his identity, purpose, and love. Leonard Cohen is a would-be artist, a would-be lover, and a would-be tragic figure. No, not that Leonard Cohen! The Leonard Cohen at the center of Leonard Cohen: A Novel is a regular guy. A man haunted by the greatness of his namesake, he struggles to compete and not to be defeated, but most of all, he struggles to accept his fate, to be more than a punchline in his own mind. At the center of Leonard's life is Daphne, whom he meets on a Greek island. In their meeting, a contemporary fable of Daphne and Apollo plays out, the birth of love out of lust. But even with Daphne, Leonard is shadowed by the "other" Leonard Cohen, whom he fears is the real Apollo while Leonard is but a pale wannabe. The ancient myth haunts the fated lovers, and the "nobody" Leonard Cohen's life becomes at once a mystery, a miracle, and a myth on its own terms. Once upon a time, Apollo fell hard for Daphne, who turned herself into a laurel tree. No less a fate awaits the protagonists of this slender yet universal novel, where art, love, and fame all fatefully intertwine.