The Animal Room

by Lauren Acampora

Overview

From the award—winning author of The Wonder Garden comes a set of linked stories spotlighting human—animal relations—and revealing the tensions that threaten to fracture a suburban New England community

Tensions simmer in small—town Connecticut. A city transplant is haunted by the deer carcass hanging in her neighbor’s garage. A psychiatric patient believes she’s becoming a bird. A disgraced oil executive invites his granddaughter’s kindergarten class to tour his home menagerie—what could go wrong? Rumors spread and fires burn in this second short story collection from award—winning author Lauren Acampora.

As in Acampora’s debut The Wonder Garden, The Animal Room delves deep into the town of Old Cranbury and its eclectic mix of residents. Incisive and moving, these stories chart the interconnected lives of neighbors, relatives, coworkers, enemies, lovers, and the animals around them, turning an unflinching eye to the natural world to shed light on human nature. Through its riveting ensemble, The Animal Room paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of contemporary American life that is strikingly unique.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802167897
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	06/09/2026
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Lauren Acampora is the author of The Wonder Garden, The Paper Wasp, and The Hundred Waters. Her work has won or been nominated for the GLCA New Writers Award, the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the Story Prize, and the New England Book Award, and she’s been named an Artist Fellow in Fiction by The New York Foundation for the Arts. Her writing has appeared in publications such as the Paris Review, One Story, New England Review, Missouri Review, Guernica, and the New York Times. The story "Dominion," from The Animal Room, has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2025.