From the back of the book:

Burgundy, 1808. One night Sobran Jordeau, a young vintner, meets an angel in his vineyard: a gorgeous creature with huge wings that smell of snow, a sense of humour and an inquiring mind. They meet every year on the midsummer anniversary of the date. Meanwhile, village life goes on with its affairs and mysteries, marriages and murders, and the vintages keep improving - through the horror of the Napoleonic wars, and into the middle of the century, as science marches on, viticulture changes, and gliders fly like angels.

I read this book a few years ago, after it was discussed on Radio National's Australia Talks Books. At the time, I'm not sure I enjoyed it - it seemed much to unconventional for my tastes. But so many of the scenes, thoughts and images from the novel have stuck in my mind, that I've since realised how powerful it really was. Elizabeth Knox manages to involve a whole range of different themes and ideas, all tied neatly into the experiences of the main character. There were some scenes that I didn't enjoy, but also some beautiful language, powerful imagery and very moving moments. I would highly recommend it, even if it is just to broaden your usual reading repertoire.

I've decided to make this into a BookRing, because I'm very eager to hear what others make of it. I picked up this copy second hand, and it is small enough to minimise postage costs. I look forward to hearing what other BookCrossers think of this intriguing novel.

Here is the list of participants for the international BookRing, in shipping order:
murmurrr in Australia
Mundoo in Australia
Jubby in Australia
charmedwitch23 in Australia
LastDance in Australia
EDDI in Australia
Hulinea in Australia
lmn60 in Australia
adrienne10 in the US
casseytara in the US
kalipriestess in the US
tabby90 in the US
weeblet in the US
Leighspeak in the UK
urpfi in Switzerland
Silverstone in Sweden
…and back to Scism in Australia
If anyone else would like to join up, please PM me and I will fit you in somewhere. Please note that if you join after the book has started it’s journey, I will make sure your shipping preferences are honoured, but I may not be able to meet requests for particular positions in the list. If I get requests from any more Australian BookCrossers, I will put their names at the end of the list, so that the book has a reasonable chance of getting out of the country before the end of the year! Other BookCrossers will be added into the list according to their location.



Guidelines for this BookRing
1. When you receive the book, make a quick journal entry so we all know it’s safe in your hands. If you can, include an estimate of how long you think it will take you to read it.

2. Read the book at your own pace, but try to keep to a maximum of one month. If you’re taking more than a month, add an extra journal entry to let us know where you’re at with the book.

3. Once you’ve finished it, make a journal entry with your thoughts on the book.

4. PM the next person on the list to ask for their snail mail address. If you don’t hear back within 3 days, try PMing once more. If you still don’t get a response try the next person on the list, and PM me so I know what’s happening.

5. Post the book off to the next person, and make a journal entry (NOT release notes) to say that you’ve sent it on.

Happy reading everyone!

Sent to murmurrr on Monday March 15, 2004 on the first leg of its BookRing journey.

Thankyou Scism, book has arrived safely!
I really like the bookmark you have included with the bookring instructions. Much appreciated by a bookring newbie.
Cheers,
mur

This book didn't grab me immediately but I was intrigued enough by the format to keep reading and I am glad I did. By page 50 I was totally absorbed and found it hard to put the book down. An interesting and disturbing exploration of relationships and loss which had me tearful at the end. Thankyou scism for the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy a book I would not have chosen myself.

Will pm next on the list and post again when I have mailed the book.

14/4/04 mailed to mundoo in South Australia today!

Received the book today.
Loved the idea of the bookmark.
The Tiger card was beautiful. Thank you murmurrr.

Interesting concept. The book started slowly for me and at one point I thought I would put it aside for a while, but luckily I didn't as the story gripped me and I ended up not being able to put the book down. The description of Aurora's diagnosis of breast cancer and operation was mind-boggling (my best friend has just had breast surgery and I told her she is lucky she lives in the time we do after reading the description). The intertwinning of the family relationships and the improvement of the Sobran's family circumstances was facinating and I guessed the reason for the quality of the wine in the 'angel' vats. A story that turned out to be very thought provoking.

Posted to Jubby today

Received in the post today, and plan to pass onto Charmed witch at next Tuesday's meetup.

I recieved this from Jubby via my partner, thanks for dropping it off at his work Jubby :-)
Since I heard about this bookring, quite a while ago, I have been looking forward to reading this.
Finishing off The Da Vinci Code bookring at the mo, so should be able to start on this in about a week, so may take me a month from now to finish.
I love the postcards in the back and will get one myself to add to them. The bookmark/insert is a great idea too.
Cheers
Charmedwitch23

Well, I finally finished this book. Woohoo! It took me 1 day under a month to get round to it and then read it. I thought I was longer. Anyway, enough frivolities.
At first this book was dissapointing, it was confusing and written in a style that was not always pleasing at all. Following events year by year was unexpected but at least it quickened the pace somewhat. The pace of life in this story is slow I think (which would be lovely) so purhaps the yearly timeline was deliberatly to speed it up in a way. The story wassn't what I was expecting but it grew on me and often was very emotional. I found the story intriguing, erotic, sad, and happy. I'm gald I pursued it. Thanks Scism and all before me.

Will post on to Lastdance asap.
Cheers
Charmedwitch23

Received the book from CharmedWitch in the mail on Tuesday. The bookmark/instructions card is a great idea and the included postcards make opening the book like a little travel adventure each time.

I'm already 1/4 of the way through, so should have it finished fairly quickly. It took a bit to get used to Elizabeth's writing style, but once a few chapters/years had gone by I started to find the book hard to put down.

Thanks CharmedWitch for posting it on, and to Scism for the bookring in the first place :)

Wow! What a great read. As I mentioned above, the writing style takes some getting used to but once it becomes familiar it just adds so much to how the book flows.

I felt like I was being allowed a peek into forbidden territory, a kind of "behind the scenes" look at this family. The way the story is told is in a mix of detail and detatched fragments. This makes the imagery so very, very real. I also liked how as the reader you often had to "fill in the gaps" and find the implied meaning behind the words.

I'm glad I took the time to read this book, I really enjoyed it.

Received yesterday in the mail, thanks. I am reading another book at the moment but this will be next.

Sorry this took a while... real life got in the way. An unusual book, I liked the writing style but wasn't crazy about the storyline. Thanks for the opportunity to read it. Mailing to Hulinea tomorrow.

21st Aug. Update. Sorry, it only got mailed today at the third attempt! Once the paper with the address fell out, once the post office was shut and once the card inserts got left behind.

UPDATE: This book appears to have gone AWOL. The last known movement was when EDDI mailed it off to Hulinea. Not sure what happened from there, but I'm in the process of trying to track it down. If anyone has any news, please let me know. Otherwise, let's all just cross our fingers and hope it turns up!

You can relax scism... it arrived in my letter box today! I have about 3 ring books ahead of it but will get to it asap. It looks intriguing and I'm looking forward to reading it.

This one took me quite a while to get into. To be honest the only reasons I persisted with it were the good reviews of the other readers in this ring and my personal rule about not giving up on a book until I hit page 100.... Well, at page 88 it finally got me!
I found Knox's slow pace frustrating initially and was struggling to care about any of the characters, but found that as I read on I became intrigued with the theological notions inherent in Xas's existence and implications of his relationship with Jodeau. That said, I don't think I'm a huge fan of her writing - though I may look out for further books by her in order to see whether she follows on with some of this novel's more interesting themes.
Thanks for sharing this one, scism.
I'll post it on to adrienne10 this week.

Rec'd in the mail yesterday.

I'm currently slowly reading Virgin Earth by Philippa Gregory, which is a ring book. I promised to try to have it done by the 10th, but I can guarantee that one won't be finished by then. I have finals the 10th-15th, so I probably won't start this book until at least the 16th of December. I have break then, so I'll get it done by the end of 2004.

Update 12/28 Well, I have started this novel, after finishing Virgin Earth which took much longer than expected, and reading my Christmas gift of Banewreaker. We just returned from a long trip, and I have a lot to get done at home. I don't think I will have this book finished by the end of 2004 as promised. I must admit, that I need a little reading break after Banewreaker because the characters from that book are still walking around my mind a bit. If the ringleader wants me to move the book on, I will, but given a few more days, I will get this book started and finished before my classes resume on the 10th.

Update 1/2: Again, I must apologize for a very delayed response. I just picked this book up again since trying to start it several days ago. Sometimes a person needs a break from reading, or at least what I needed to read seemed a bit off after what I had just read. Anyway, I have re-begun this book and only on p27. I like it quite a bit as it moves along swiftly. It won't take long for me to finish and pass along.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and apologize for keeping it so long. It took a long time to finish my previous bookring book and then, as I said, I read a Christmas present in between (a book I'd been waiting to read for several months). After that book, I needed a break, as the characters were still with me and I could not immerse myself with new ones yet.

However, once I started, it read quickly, or so it seemed. I was well intrigued by p27, which is a little unusual for me. I have a 60 page rule, which is about how long it takes most books to capture my interest. I really like the short "chapters" at the beginning, which made it easy for me in my hectic life to read a snippet here or there. When the chapters got longer, I did not want to set the book down.

For awhile, it felt like I was reading a novel by Paulo Coelho. However, this book started to give a negative tone instead of an uplifting positive one. I enjoyed the characters and the stories; I found the themes interesting. I doubt I will go out of my way to find more novels by Knox, though.

Due to having the book longer than I was supposed to, I already have the address for the next reader and am mailing tomorrow.

Isn't it always the way? I'm in the middle of a book ring book, with another waiting, and I get two more in the mail yesterday! So I probably won't start this one until this weekend at the earliest.

I finished this book this morning during a break at work. Like others before, it was slow going getting into the book and the story. After I got accustomed to it, I liked the way the chapters went from year to year, but then Sobran's kids all grew up without my really getting to know any of them until the towards the end. I was very intrigued with the history behind Xas and how he came to be a signed wandering free agent.

This is already packaged up and in my outgoing mail tray to Tabby90, as Kalipriestess wanted to be skipped.

Got in the mail today, thanks! I love looking at all the postcards and will try my best to find a represtative card of NC before shipping it out.

I thought this book was beautifully written. The vineyard and Sobran's family were wonderful and nostalgic but with their faults too, to make it believable. There are so many things to think about now that I've finished it. Angels as good or bad? or just copies? Souls as distillations? Is Xas Christlike? what would that mean? I like books like this that when you finish, you close the book, close your eyes, and just ponder for a couple moments.
Thanks for sharing it, I'm really glad I got to read it. I've got weeblet's address now, so I'll send it off tomorrow.

got it!
and i had a blast looking through the post cards :) that's it. i'm moving to australia...

i really enjoyed this one, but i was hooked from the first page! i lost interest towards the end, but all in all, it was an enjoyable read.
i was also thrilled to see my name in print (aline)! living in the US, that *never* happens.
sent on to leighspeaks.
thanks for sharing!