The Paper Wasp

"Take The Talented Mr. Ripley, cross it with Suspiria, add a dash of La La Land and mix it all at midnight and this arty psychological stalker novel is what might result."--New York Times Book Review

Hailed as a "Best Book of the Summer" by the New York Times, O Magazine, Elle, Town & Country, and BBC.com, among others, Lauren Acampora's debut novel The Paper Waspis a riveting knife-edge story of two women's dark friendship of twisted ambition set against the backdrop of contemporary Hollywood. Beguiling and unexpected, The Paper Wasp is a journey into the psyche and imagination of a woman determined to fulfill her destiny, from one of our most unique and incisive writers.

"A hypnotic tale of codependence that skewers our fascination with gossip and fame."--O Magazine, "The Best Books by Women of Summer 2019"

About the Author

Lauren Acampora is the author of The Wonder Garden, winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and a finalist for the New England Book Award; The Paper Wasp, longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize; and The Hundred Waters, named a Best Book of 2022 by Vogue. She is a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Fiction from The New York Foundation for the Arts. Her writing has appeared in Paris Review, Guernica, The New York Times Book Review, and LitHub, among other places. She lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband, artist Thomas Doyle, and their daughter.