Eight stories of love and loss, drama and glamour, hope and rejection, from a writer at the height of his powers. In Rupert Everett's first, glorious collection of stories, he takes us on an exhilarating journey with a cast of extraordinary characters. A blackly humorous story of a chaotic and emotional funeral in Paris. Oscar Wilde's last night in Paris, vividly evocative, unflinching and elegiac. A Russian-American countess who confronts sex and age in a Wiltshire teashop. The ferociously unforgiving life of an L.A. talent agency and the unexpected twist that launches a completely different kind of career. The deathbed confession of a woman who left home for 1850s India, never to return. A story of emigration, love and grief. And a beautifully evocative and touching portrayal of Proust's creative life and his childhood. Praise for The American No 'This is a storyteller unafraid to spike his black comedy with sudden and strongly brewed emotion... exhilarating' Guardian 'Full of kindness, even tenderness... He is a brilliant writer: opulently gossipy as few are these days, but also truthful, witty, wise and stoical' Rachel Cooke, Observer 'Everett is a brilliant writer - funny, waspish, warm and seductive' Camilla Long, The Times