The dark side of two young women’s friendship against the backdrop of Hollywood glitz frames The Paper Wasp, the debut novel from Lauren Acampora, author of an acclaimed short story collection, The Wonder Garden. Join New Canaan Library in welcoming Ms. Acampora on Wednesday, September 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the Adrian Lamb room. This program is presented in collaboration with Elm Street Books. Please register online at newcanaanlibrary.org.

The Paper Wasp, Acampora’s electrifying debut novel, tells the knife-edge story of two women’s dark friendship and twisted ambition set against the backdrop of contemporary Hollywood. In small-town Michigan, Abby Graven leads a solitary life, far from the promise of talented artist she showed in high school. When Abby encounters her former best friend, Elise, who is now a rising celebrity, she is surprised and warmed that Elise still considers her not only a friend but a brilliant storyteller and true artist. Elise’s unexpected faith in Abby reignites in her a dormant hunger, and when Elise offhandedly tells Abby to look her up if she’s ever in LA, Abby soon

arrives on her doorstep. The Paper Wasp is a thrilling, unexpected journey into the psyche and imagination of a woman determined to fulfill her destiny.
Lauren Acampora is the author of The Wonder Garden, which won the GLCA New Writers Award, and was named a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, an Indie Next selection, a New England Book Award finalist, and one of Amazon and NPR’s best books of the year. Her fiction has appeared in the Paris Review, Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, and Antioch Review. Raised in Connecticut, she now lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband and their daughter.