Good afternoon and welcome to another editor of the Avid Reader. Today our guest is Anne Beattie, author of A Wonderful Stroke of Luck, the next in her series of many novels and short story collections. Published in April by Viking.

Anne is incredibly prolific and after 40 years remains as relevant as she was in 1976. She’s had tons of short stories in The New Yorker, has won many awards including four O. Henrys, The PEN Malamud Award, been in Best American Short Stories and as I said, many others.

A Wonderful Stroke of Luck is set in a boarding school in New Hampshire where we meet Ben and the unique Pierre LaVerdere his teacher who teaches not only reason, but prevarication. Though his students leave him, he never really leaves his students. And even though Ben leaves boarding school as well, he still wonders, as do I from my own experiences what did that experience really mean. And his whole life in part remains shaped by a couple of years. And why. When you read the book that why will be answered.