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The Wonder Garden: Wander through the world's wildest habitats and discover more than 80 amazing animals

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John likes to arrive first. He enjoys standing quietly with a house before his clients arrive, and today, although he feels pinned beneath an invisible weight, he resolves to savor this solitary moment. It’s one of those overhauled ranches so common to Old Cranbury these days, swollen and dressed to resemble a colonial. White, of course, with ornamental shutters and latches pretending to hold them open. A close echo of its renovated sisters on Whistle Hill Road, garnished with hostas and glitzed with azaleas. He has seen too many of these to count . . .

We believe that wisdom begins in magic and wonder, and we strive to provide an environment that fosters curiosity, imagination, and creativity. Our approach encourages children to explore and discover their world with a sense of wonder and awe. A man strikes an under-the-table deal with a surgeon to spend a few quiet seconds closer to his wife than he's ever been; a young soon-to-be mother looks on in paralyzing astonishment as her husband walks away from a twenty-year career in advertising at the urging of his spirit animal; an elderly artist risks more than he knows when he's commissioned by his newly-arrived neighbors to produce the work of a lifetime. Rather than comment on each of the 13 stories individually --I'll quote a few sentences where I 'stopped' to to think. [I'm still thinking ...and will think about this book for a long time]....I am intentionally being careful --avoiding spoilers. Lauren Acampora writes about upper-middle class with such brevity, such darkness, such aplomb that you can't help but become intertwined with the intricacies of it all. It's dark, it's brilliant, it's a little spooky, but mostly fabulous. There were times I even colored the world of Old Cranbury darker and more sinister, thinking Acampora would take us there, but alas, she did not making us wonder...hence, the title, WONDER GARDEN.

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A smashing debut, with range, subtlety and bite. Reading Acampora, we're in Cheever country, with hints of Flannery O'Connor."--Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com

But I don't think Acampora is really after our empathy. She writes, like Margaret Atwood, with delicious, irresistible irony, flirting with the surreal just enough to make us wonder, yet rooting us in a garden we recognize. We nod and snort and generally feel superior to those whose wealth and privilege have always made us slightly ashamed. Further programming highlights to be announced. Please visit somersethouse.org.uk for more information. The festival will put togetherness at its heart, using elements of entertainment and play to encourage connections and collaboration between communities. This Bright Land builds upon Somerset House’s foundation as a central hub for creativity and conversation, creating a new vibrant space for discovery and delight throughout the month of August.

Customer reviews

While the stories certainly kept me interested, Acampora's writing is magnificent; her descriptions of this area, the architecture and the people were both provocative and delightful. I could have kept reading much more and was sad to reach the end of the final story. For those of you who end up reading this one, I will tell you as someone who works in a hospital my favorite story was "Afterglow;" I guess you're going to have to read it now to find out why! Visa - Camille is a single mother who has found an amazing guy. They plan a wondrous vacation together. Can he possibly be for real?

More than a collection of short stories, but not quite a novel. This book is really a series of episodes about a group of people who live in an upper-middle-class town called Old Cranbury, in New England. It all seems to get darker as the book progresses. There are lies and secrets and insecurities here. Yes, the stuff we’re all surrounded by each and every day. So maybe the whole thing isn't any more than a reflection of what goes on in every small town; in every community, in fact. He understands now that every man keeps a detail or two in a neutral place inside his own brain, and the wise ones never enter that particular cabinet". The Wonder Garden is a beautiful book: witty, intelligent, deeply compassionate and gorgeously crafted. Lauren Acampora is uncannily skilled at chronicling the emotional lives of her characters with the same razor-sharp precision as she does the suburban landscape that surrounds them. I can't stop thinking about these stories." -- Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericansThe world depicted in Lauren Acampora’s stories seems reassuringly familiar, until it becomes unaccountably strange and unsettling. One moment we seem to be in Cheever’s Westchester, the next we plunge through the looking glass into realms that may remind some readers of George Saunders or Robert Coover or the David Lynch of Blue Velvet, though, inevitably, all resemblances prove to be superficial. Acampora is an original and The Wonder Garden is an outstanding debut.”—Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a complimentary e-book copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Ground Fault - John Duffy is a building inspector with a perceptive eye, and a willingness to let life’s disappointments affect his work. He could probably do with a bit of self-inspection. At the centre of This Bright Land, a spectacular 35m Observation Wheel offers new perspectives on the city, both literally and figuratively. The wheel will rise over Somerset House’s iconic dome to reveal breath-taking, rare views of the capital’s skyline from a new central London viewpoint. Each gondola of the wheel will be home to two new audio commissions, which captures the voices and stories of Londoners from all walks of life. As part of this, Somerset House has worked with seven young people and Audio Producer Harry Murdoch, to record conversations and interviews on the theme of family in Voices of Tomorrow, supported by the Kusuma Trust. The second audio commission, A Story of Us by British-Iranian film director Mina Salimi, sees uncanny conversations between Londoners from all walks of life seamlessly woven together in a soundscape exploring connection and commonality. This book is different than any other short story collection I’ve reviewed for this blog. The stories are so tightly and deftly woven together that I’m going to write about characters rather than specific stories. These stories take place in the small NYC suburb of Old Cranberry. It is an upper middle class suburb populated mostly by those who work in the city and their spouses. This set of stories spans a longer time period than most short story collections. It is difficult to get an exact number of months, but it seems to be approximately a year.The intricate, colorful images on the cover of "The Wonder Garden" make it impossible not to want to find out what is inside - immediately - The New York Times

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