Onlookers

Beattie (A Wonderful Stroke of Luck) takes stock of “liberal bubble” Charlottesville, Va., in this smart and wry collection. In “Pegasus,” set during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, retired doctor and Democratic Party donor Robert Boyd Anderson shelters in place with his caregiver, with whom he trades stories of old loves. “Nearby” follows an avid reader who agrees to sub for a creative writing instructor at the University of Virginia despite her lack of teaching experience. On campus, she navigates barricades set up after the violent Unite the Right rally and observes a protest over a sculpture of Sacajawea kneeling, labeled by activists as inaccurately “subservient.” “In the Great Southern Tradition,” set at a 52-acre estate outside town nicknamed Delusional Folly, portrays playwright Jonah Buxton planting tulips with his divorced aunt Monica and her lawyer brother before the property goes on the market. The elderly title character of “Monica, Headed Home,” one of the strongest entries, lives alone and muses about Charlottesville’s “privileged” social policing, such as the erasing of less-than-positive messages on a public blackboard outside city hall. Measured prose and incisive humor make these stories shine. Once again, Beattie proves herself up to the task of pinpointing America’s contradictions. (July)