Songs for Other People’s Weddings

YA author Levithan (Another Day) collaborates with singer-songwriter Lekman for an accomplished novel about a wedding singer’s relationship troubles. J is a “bookish, folkish” Swedish singer-songwriter who writes an original song for each wedding. He interviews the couples to learn their story and tailors the lyrics and tune to them, whether the bride is his childhood friend’s mother marrying the same man for the fourth time or the celebrants are an influencer couple who insist he name-drop the brands sponsoring the ceremony. After his girlfriend, V, travels to New York City with her much younger boss to secure funding for his tech start-up, J becomes unmoored when her communications taper off. He follows her there and calls on a friend who connects him with performance artists to stage a sham wedding as cover for his true intention to monitor V. Geographic proximity, however, only exacerbates the tension between J and V. Levithan’s heartfelt prose and Lekman’s songs for each of the novel’s 10 weddings offer genuine and often funny depictions of love’s messiness. It adds up to an impressive meditation on love and letting go. Agent: Bill Clegg, Clegg Agency. (Aug.)