Man loves fallen male angel
By Yao Minji |
March 30, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DRUNK and confused about his love life, young Sobran Jodeau encounters astonishingly beautiful male angel Xas in Jodeau's family vineyard. Comforting and counseling him, Xas also promises to visit the young vintner every year, on the same night. "The Vintner's Luck," by New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox starts slowly with naturalistic portrayal of Jodeau's village life, marriage and struggles on the frontline in battles during the Napoleonic Wars. Set in a small Burgundian village in the early 19th century, Knox's image-driven language and capture of details provide such a realistic tone that even when the celestial being appears, he is easily blended into the naturalistic plot.
"My writing interest is to construct a fantasy world with realistic and naturalistic details, a world where I can explore the intensified relationship between angel and human," Knox told Shanghai Daily.
This is her fifth book and her first internationally published one, which has led to her further international success, not common among New Zealand writers.
"It is not really possible to be a full-time writer in New Zealand, unless you can publish overseas, which is quite difficult too," she said.
In the unique angel's novel, Knox fills the breathtakingly beautiful Xas with just enough humanity, complexity and failings that separate him from all the human beings in the book while adding the central humanity factor to the story.
Xas starts as a stereotypical angel, beautiful and mysterious, and has kept his promise to see the young vintner every year on the same night, no matter where the man is. He meets and counsels the young man from winemaking to his love life, and their friendship deepens as Knox slowly reveals Jodeau's various aspects in life.
The story really starts when Xas tells Jodeau his biggest secret - he is in fact a fallen angel with a past, one rejected by both God and Lucifer. The young vintner falls into ultimate despair, in fear that he has committed blasphemy.
The pace of the book immediately changes, with more secrets to be revealed along with suspense, murders, love, lust, wine, and struggle, all along with the unorthodox and compelling love story between the mortal and the immortal.
"My writing interest is to construct a fantasy world with realistic and naturalistic details, a world where I can explore the intensified relationship between angel and human," Knox told Shanghai Daily.
This is her fifth book and her first internationally published one, which has led to her further international success, not common among New Zealand writers.
"It is not really possible to be a full-time writer in New Zealand, unless you can publish overseas, which is quite difficult too," she said.
In the unique angel's novel, Knox fills the breathtakingly beautiful Xas with just enough humanity, complexity and failings that separate him from all the human beings in the book while adding the central humanity factor to the story.
Xas starts as a stereotypical angel, beautiful and mysterious, and has kept his promise to see the young vintner every year on the same night, no matter where the man is. He meets and counsels the young man from winemaking to his love life, and their friendship deepens as Knox slowly reveals Jodeau's various aspects in life.
The story really starts when Xas tells Jodeau his biggest secret - he is in fact a fallen angel with a past, one rejected by both God and Lucifer. The young vintner falls into ultimate despair, in fear that he has committed blasphemy.
The pace of the book immediately changes, with more secrets to be revealed along with suspense, murders, love, lust, wine, and struggle, all along with the unorthodox and compelling love story between the mortal and the immortal.
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