Acampora's debut collection of linked stories,
The Wonder Garden, was published by Grove Atlantic in 2015. The book won the
GLCA New Writers Award. It was also a finalist for the New England Book Awards, was on the longlist for the 2015
Story Prize, and was a
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. It was reviewed in publications such as
The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and
The Dallas Morning News and earned four starred pre-publication reviews from
Publishers Weekly,
Kirkus Reviews,
Library Journal, and
Booklist. In
The Boston Globe,
Priscilla Gilman described the book as a "weird, inspired, original collection of 13 interwoven short stories. It is reminiscent of
John Cheever in its anatomizing of suburban ennui and of
Ann Beattie in its bemused dissection of a colorful cast of eccentrics. But Acampora's is entirely her own book, as it is self-consciously of its own world: Set in the fictional town of Old Cranbury, 'a desirable suburb in a sterling school district, not too far from the city,' with a 'historic pedigree' dating back to the Puritans." Acampora's debut novel,
The Paper Wasp, was published by Grove Atlantic in 2019 and by
Quercus in the
United Kingdom. The novel tells the story of Abby Graven, a young woman in rural
Michigan who becomes obsessed with her former high school friend, Elise VanDijk, who is now a Hollywood starlet living in
Malibu,
California. The book was longlisted for the
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and was reviewed by publications such as
The New York Times,
Time,
The Irish Times,
O Magazine, and
Elle.
Stephanie Zacharek wrote of the book in
Time: "Acampora's prose has a seductive, pearlescent allure, even when she's addressing doomed friendships, friends who can never live up to our expectations, friends who betray." In
The New York Times,
Vanessa Friedman wrote: "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." Grove Atlantic published Acampora's third book,
The Hundred Waters, in 2022. The novel centers on Louisa Rader, a former model and photographer in
New York City. Having returned to her well-heeled hometown of Nearwater, Connecticut to raise a family, she becomes embroiled with the aristocratic Steigers and their troubled teenaged son, Gabriel, an artist and environmental activist. The novel was chosen as one of the best books of the year by
Vogue. In a starred review in
Booklist, Stephanie Turza wrote, "In this tightly paced novel that echoes
Celeste Ng's
Little Fires Everywhere,
Tom Perrotta's
Mrs. Fletcher, and A. Natasha Joukovsky's
The Portrait of a Mirror, Acampora sets the idealism of youth against middle-age complacency and high-society reservations." Acampora's short fiction has appeared in publications including
The Paris Review,
Guernica,
New England Review,
The Missouri Review,
Prairie Schooner, and
The Antioch Review. Her nonfiction has been published in
The New York Times Book Review,
Literary Hub, and NER Digital. ==Awards and recognition==