Le Dernier Ange by Robert de Goulaine

Le Dernier Ange (The Last Angel) is a stylish novel that tells the story of an artistic bohemian living in 1950’s Paris who draws people into his orbit, mesmerizing them with the force of his personality and the allure of his lifestyle. Driving a vintage Hispano-Suiza, Alban cuts a fine figure among the habitués of the club where he spends his nights holding court. A young man at loose ends, Vincent, comes under his sway and the two become inseparable—that is, until Alban marries Solana, the woman Vincent has also come to love. They go their separate ways, but meet up some time later in a village on the Loir. By now, Alban is living with Isabelle, a seemingly aimless—and uninhibited—young woman. The undercurrents of Alban’s life begin to pull him under, however, and his downward spiral ends tragically. Vincent, ever loyal to his friend, realizes that he must put his own life back together and returns to a more conventional existence. This quintessentially French story of friends and lovers evokes an era in which the meaning of life was questioned and relationships were redefined.
 
 Robert de Goulaine lives in his family’s château in Normandy, where he tends a butterfly sanctuary and presides over the fondation Goulaine. A philosopher, humanist, bon vivant, and poet, he has written eight books in the last fifteen years, including Le Livre des vins rares et disparus, which won the Prix Grand Cru des Journées du livre et du vin. (A chapter is included in this book.) Le Dernier Ange, first published in 1992, was reissued by Éditions du Rocher in 2006.