The American No: Stories

British actor Everett debuts with an appealing collection of stories, many of them culled from his ideas for scripts, that address themes of loss, love, and the pitfalls of fame. The title entry, which takes the form of a rant, bemoans the fickleness of Hollywood (an “American no” is when a director gushes over an idea, then ghosts the creator). In “Hare Hare,” set in present-day London, the narrator runs into a failed producer who’s taken up with the Hare Krishnas. Everett’s wide range of settings include mid-19th-century India, where, in “The Last Rites,” an unhappily married Englishwoman is widowed, captured by revolutionaries, and presumed dead, only to secretly live as a Muslim wife. A new life is also in store for the protagonist of “Ten-Pound Pom,” a young Irishman who abandons his careless family for a fresh if turbulent start in 1952 Australia. The standout “Sebastian Melmouth, the Morning After and the Night Before” portrays Oscar Wilde’s final night in Paris before his death, an inspiration for Everett’s film The Happy Prince. With these astute character-driven tales, the author proves to be a storyteller of many talents. Everett’s fans have cause to celebrate. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (Feb.)