THE DESTINY OF NATHALIE X AND OTHER STORIES

William Boyd, like Graham Greene, is an Englishman, a specialist in colonial despair. Boyd's younger, and no, the world has not been improved by the passage of time. Both men write splendidly about a British Empire in which the sun is forever setting. Ian Whitcomb's voice is ideally suited for these 11 stories. Whitcomb's got the refinement, the lassitude, and the precision. One has the feeling that he went to the best schools and never got over it. The title story, "Nathalie X ," is a masterpiece in deadpan. What happens when Hollywood discovers a small-time independent filmmaker? Nothing good, of course, but the mix-up is as deeply funny as it is deeply sad. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 01]