The Vintner's Luck, by Elizabeth Knox.

Sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular is counterpoised
to the sacred in our culture. Lust is one of the Seven Deadly Sins,
and gays in Biblical literature have been blamed for the destruction
of all that is Good and Pure in society. This refreshing novel
mixes
the mundane with spiritual, the sacred and the profane in a
provocative and intriguing way.

Set in the early 19th Century France, the novel concerns a vintner's
spiritual and (occasionally) romantic relationship with an angel,
Xas.
After the first meeting, one night in in Sobran's vineyard, the two
agree to meet every year on the same night. The secret meetings take
place over a period of 60 years. At first, their friendship is
amiable, as they discuss winemaking, Sobran's familial troubles with
his wife and children, and local gossip. Xas is deliberately vague
about his origins. The relationship becomes more complicated, as
Sobran realizes that his love for Xas transcends the spiritual, that
it is downright carnal. Their relationship goes through a seismic
change when Sobran realizes that Xas is an angel of different origins
than he initially thought. Their complex friendship has the charged
mystical, quality of the relationships described in the Hermann
Hesse
novels "Demian" and "Narcissus and Goldmund"

That plot fragment above, though, gives little justice to the scope
and depth of the novel. "The Vintner's Luck" is also a historical
novel, about the lives of rural folk after the Revolution, far
removed
from Paris. As such, it is filled with scenes of pastoral life, and
local color as the dying nobility gets used to the new order. You
also much learn about the process of wine-making, and life on a farm.
It is a novel of character-in addition to the central relationship
between Sobran and Xas, there are also nicely drawn secondary
characters. The strongests of these is the Countess Aurora, a
headstrong, intellectual woman who has sympathies for both the old
power structures and the forward thinking rebels of the Paris
Commune.
She's a kind of George Sand person, pushing the envelope of
acceptability. She also becomes Sobran's chief confidante. Their
relationship is equally complex and unorthodox; it mirrors Sobran's
relationship with Xas nicely. And it a novel of ideas. Heaven,
Hell, faith, friendship and love are all major themes.

Knox's novel has a slow, leisurely feel, in spite of the supernatural
elements. This allows for full development of the characters.
Sobran's change from wide-eyed innocent to wise and bitter patriarch
is richly described. Knox's language has a graceful economy, and her
dialogue is good-the philosophical conversations are realistic, and
revealed in the form of personal anecdotes rather than pretentious
fables. The character of Xas is also realistically drawn. He's a
morally ambiguous individual, often moody and morose. He has a
passion for debate and gardening, and loves hearing about the mundane
aspects of Sobran's life. He is also ambivalent about his angelic
nature and his past; he openly questions tenants of faith. He's a
postmodern Byronic hero. The sense of place and time is so
carefully
rendered, that it's a character in its own right.

The Vintner's Luck refashions the Anne Rice type novel
(vampire/angel/demon) as outcast/observer in society as a graceful
novel of character and ideas.
--Craig