Where You'll Find Me: And Other Stories

Beattie's fourth collection assembles 15 of her finest short fiction, and strives toward a complete and compelling vision of life as we live it. Whether writing about a real estate agent's fascination with a beautiful bowl ("Janus"), a couple who have come to terms with the loss of their daughter ("In the White Night"), or an elderly woman's vision of the stairway to heaven ("Heaven on a Summer Night"), she offers us a portrayal that is effortlessly exact and bears the sudden rush of truth. She also conveys a profound understanding that both bad and good must be borne during a life on earth. Other stories are: "Spiritus," "Coney Island," "High School," "Cards," "Snow," and "The Big Outside World." The stories are marked by her ear for aimless, ex-urban, middle-class drones and silences. ISBN 0-671-6220-X: $14.95.