Of Beattie's recent novel "A Wonderful Stroke of Luck" (2019), "Publishers Weekly" wrote, "Beattie offers sharp psychological insights and well-crafted prose, but the novel lacks the power and emotional depth of her best work." In "The New York Times Book Review," Martha Southgate wrote, "Ultimately, this is a novel in which nothing seems to matter much.” She also called the book “shapeless.” Southgate nonetheless praised "A Wonderful Stroke of Luck" for "some elegant sentences and cutting observations that remind a reader of Beattie at her strongest."