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A review by emendelowitz
The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
What a strange and intriguing little book this was. First I must confess that I read the first ~50 pages of this book over a year ago and put it down before impulsively picking it back up right where I left off in the middle of a chapter the other day.
The Vintner’s Luck follows Sobran Jodeau, a vintner from the south of France, throughout his life in the early 19th century (essentially from Napoleon to Napoleon III), and primarily concerns his relationship with Xas, an Angel who comes to him once a year. We also follow Sobran’s family and his friend, lover, and employer, Aurora the baroness.
I’ve found that trying to explain this book is very difficult, but you really just need to immerse yourself in it. There is something so utterly fascinating and tender about Xas and Sobran’s relationship and the book is threaded with a strangely enchanting energy. Elizabeth Knox has managed to weave together the utterly mundane and normal lives of this community of people in France with the divine world of God, Satan, and angels in a way that shouldn’t work, but somehow does. The juxtaposition of Xas’s angelic beauty and divine power against the backdrop of ordinary French country life and political turmoil created such a rich setting that I could not help but be consumed by. Everything about this book is a contradiction but somehow it just really worked for me and I see why it has developed a cult following.
The Vintner’s Luck contains a certain energy that was managed to be captured by these strange, imaginative queer books of the late 20th century and first few years of the first. I don’t want to compare this to Interview with the Vampire because the two are so drastically different, but I can’t help but associate the threads of religious imagery turned queer and the violence and tenderness, the absurdity and solemnity, and sense of othering but also wholeness that come with being loved by an immortal mythical creature whether it is an angel or a vampire.
The Vintner’s Luck is a relatively obscure work of fiction published first in New Zealand around the turn of the century, so naturally it was difficult to get my hands on a copy. The copy I ordered second hand has gone from Auckland to Napier within New Zealand and then made its way to an island off the coast of South Carolina and finally made its way to me in Virginia (the previous owners have written this on the backside of the cover, which is how I know). I first found out about this book from Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light, on Twitter. I love watching the journey that a book, or even just a story, takes before it reaches you, which is perhaps why I enjoy reading older queer stories, because I feel connected to those who came before me.
Now that I am done waxing poetic, I also just really loved the character of Aurora and I think it is very rare to find such a compelling female character in a story centering queer men (I now realize I have said this exact same thing about countless other compelling female characters in stories centering queer men so either I’ve fabricated this problem in my mind or I’ve just been on a lucky streak).
P.S. I get why angels and biblical allegory are having a resurgence in queer lit.
The Vintner’s Luck follows Sobran Jodeau, a vintner from the south of France, throughout his life in the early 19th century (essentially from Napoleon to Napoleon III), and primarily concerns his relationship with Xas, an Angel who comes to him once a year. We also follow Sobran’s family and his friend, lover, and employer, Aurora the baroness.
I’ve found that trying to explain this book is very difficult, but you really just need to immerse yourself in it. There is something so utterly fascinating and tender about Xas and Sobran’s relationship and the book is threaded with a strangely enchanting energy. Elizabeth Knox has managed to weave together the utterly mundane and normal lives of this community of people in France with the divine world of God, Satan, and angels in a way that shouldn’t work, but somehow does. The juxtaposition of Xas’s angelic beauty and divine power against the backdrop of ordinary French country life and political turmoil created such a rich setting that I could not help but be consumed by. Everything about this book is a contradiction but somehow it just really worked for me and I see why it has developed a cult following.
The Vintner’s Luck contains a certain energy that was managed to be captured by these strange, imaginative queer books of the late 20th century and first few years of the first. I don’t want to compare this to Interview with the Vampire because the two are so drastically different, but I can’t help but associate the threads of religious imagery turned queer and the violence and tenderness, the absurdity and solemnity, and sense of othering but also wholeness that come with being loved by an immortal mythical creature whether it is an angel or a vampire.
The Vintner’s Luck is a relatively obscure work of fiction published first in New Zealand around the turn of the century, so naturally it was difficult to get my hands on a copy. The copy I ordered second hand has gone from Auckland to Napier within New Zealand and then made its way to an island off the coast of South Carolina and finally made its way to me in Virginia (the previous owners have written this on the backside of the cover, which is how I know). I first found out about this book from Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light, on Twitter. I love watching the journey that a book, or even just a story, takes before it reaches you, which is perhaps why I enjoy reading older queer stories, because I feel connected to those who came before me.
Now that I am done waxing poetic, I also just really loved the character of Aurora and I think it is very rare to find such a compelling female character in a story centering queer men (I now realize I have said this exact same thing about countless other compelling female characters in stories centering queer men so either I’ve fabricated this problem in my mind or I’ve just been on a lucky streak).
P.S. I get why angels and biblical allegory are having a resurgence in queer lit.