Laura Moisin is a painfully gorgeous girl living in Manhattan. By day she dazzles NYU professors with her feats of mental prowess. By night, she parties. Popular and seemingly indefatigable, her future gleams bright with possibility. But one afternoon her older sister, Francesca, notices something chilling. Laura has suddenly and inexplicably lost her appetite. At a Chinese restaurant in Greenwich Village, she starts toying with the chicken on her plate. Later, while her family consumes a Lucullan Christmas feast, Laura picks lethargically at the following items: five red grapes, four apple slices, three banana discs, two tangerine wedges and one chunk of Gorgonzola cheese. Soon all comestibles are scorned, and Laura’s appearance morphs from striking to frightening. Her body withers. Hair falls from her head. One day Francesca wakes to discover that her sister has transformed into a cadaverous, five-foot-seven tall stick insect called “Phasmantis.”
