The Vintner's Luck (1998)

In the dark and erotic ''angel'' novel The Vintner's Luck, Sobran Jodeau, a handsome young vineyard heir in 19th-century France, literally stumbles into the arms of a beautiful, irreverent, black-haired male angel named Xas. Devout Sobran assumes that the dazzling celestial being is his guardian angel and agrees to yearly counsel with him. Their annual rendezvous — interwoven with Sobran's marriage, fatherhood, and wine-making success — turn inexorably sexual, as Xas and Sobran fall in love, even while Xas' ''fallen'' nature is revealed. Daringly exploring the spiritual worth of sensual pleasure, New Zealand writer Elizabeth Knox's imaginative, imagistic tale soars. A-