What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cloisters
On the wheel of fortune, who will emerge on top... and who will die?
When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she hopes to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its collection of medieval and Renaissance art.
There she is drawn into a small circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, including Patrick Roland, the museum's mercurial curator who specializes in the history of tarot; Rachel Mondray, Patrick's beautiful curatorial associate and sometime muse; and Leo Bitburg, the gardener who nurtures the museum's precious collection of medicinal and poison plants.
Relieved to have left her troubled past in rural Washington behind her, Ann longs for the approbation of her colleagues and peers and is happy to indulge their more outlandish theories, only to find that their fascination with fortune-telling runs deeper than academic obsession. Patrick is determined to prove that ancient divination holds the key to the foretelling of the future. And when Ann stumbles across a breakthrough in the form of a mysterious and previously-believed lost deck of 15th-century Italian tarot cards, she finds herself at the centre of a dangerous game of power, toxic friendship and ambition.
Then there is an unexpected and devastating death, and suddenly everyone becomes a suspect. As the game being played within the Cloisters spirals out of control, Ann must decide if the tarot cards can not only teach her about the past, but also about her future.
When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she hopes to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its collection of medieval and Renaissance art.
There she is drawn into a small circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, including Patrick Roland, the museum's mercurial curator who specializes in the history of tarot; Rachel Mondray, Patrick's beautiful curatorial associate and sometime muse; and Leo Bitburg, the gardener who nurtures the museum's precious collection of medicinal and poison plants.
Relieved to have left her troubled past in rural Washington behind her, Ann longs for the approbation of her colleagues and peers and is happy to indulge their more outlandish theories, only to find that their fascination with fortune-telling runs deeper than academic obsession. Patrick is determined to prove that ancient divination holds the key to the foretelling of the future. And when Ann stumbles across a breakthrough in the form of a mysterious and previously-believed lost deck of 15th-century Italian tarot cards, she finds herself at the centre of a dangerous game of power, toxic friendship and ambition.
Then there is an unexpected and devastating death, and suddenly everyone becomes a suspect. As the game being played within the Cloisters spirals out of control, Ann must decide if the tarot cards can not only teach her about the past, but also about her future.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2022
About the author
Katy Hays
4 books786 followersKaty Hays is the author of The Cloisters, a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, as well as Read With Jenna Pick. In addition to writing, Katy works as an adjunct Art History Professor, teaching rural students from Truckee to Tecopa. She holds an MA in Art History from Williams College and pursued her PhD in Art History at UC Berkeley. Her academic writing has been published by Ashgate, an imprint of Routledge.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 8,305 reviews
July 31, 2022
My god did this draaaaaaaaaaag. I wanted to like this SO bad. It had the dark academia vibes I crave but the story was so boring. Cool idea, poor execution
July 28, 2022
honestly, i loved this. an old, historic NYC museum. a scholar dedicating his life to uncovering the secrets of renaissance occult and astrology. a summer intern who is no stranger to death. is it fate that brought her to this moment and all the tragedy around it?
this has all the components of a deeply captivating and dangerously thrilling story. dark academia will always be my favourite genre and this story is a great example why. the atmosphere just radiates mystery, the subject material is interesting, the story demands answers of the world around it, and the characters suffer from their own hubris. it ticks all the boxes.
but the only reason this isnt getting 5 stars is because the story feels restrained, as if its been held back from its full potential. i wanted it to reach just a little bit further, to give just a little bit more, because its honestly so, so close to being a perfect read. and i think the reason the author chose to be reserved in some areas is because she wanted to the reader to make inferences, but i say go for it. dont just hope the reader is going to get to a conclusion because youve hinted at it. make the commitment to showcase everything. i would have enjoyed it so much more if the story had gone all out.
but a really promising debut, regardless! i sincerely hope KH continues to write more stories like this because i would read every one.
a massive thanks to atria books for the ARC!
↠ 4.5 stars
this has all the components of a deeply captivating and dangerously thrilling story. dark academia will always be my favourite genre and this story is a great example why. the atmosphere just radiates mystery, the subject material is interesting, the story demands answers of the world around it, and the characters suffer from their own hubris. it ticks all the boxes.
but the only reason this isnt getting 5 stars is because the story feels restrained, as if its been held back from its full potential. i wanted it to reach just a little bit further, to give just a little bit more, because its honestly so, so close to being a perfect read. and i think the reason the author chose to be reserved in some areas is because she wanted to the reader to make inferences, but i say go for it. dont just hope the reader is going to get to a conclusion because youve hinted at it. make the commitment to showcase everything. i would have enjoyed it so much more if the story had gone all out.
but a really promising debut, regardless! i sincerely hope KH continues to write more stories like this because i would read every one.
a massive thanks to atria books for the ARC!
↠ 4.5 stars
October 3, 2022
a girl moves to nyc to work at a museum over the summer and gets caught up in drama and death and old ass tarot cards. uhhh i found this insufferable in almost every way. the whole thing was so slow and pretentious and stuffed with art history and every goddamn character was constantly up their own ass about ~academia my goddddd the sheer fucking ACADEMIA of it all. the characters were all awful people and the only one that had any depth at all was a side character. the protag, especially, had absolutely no personality other than, as stated, nonstop yearning for academia. the dialogue as well as the internal monologue was so stuffy and unnatural that it kept pulling me out of the story. jesus christ. i don't even know. i keep seeing this compared to - and recommend for fans of - ninth house and i just.. genuinely do not understand. ninth house is a beautifully written, engaging, compelling story with fleshed out characters and delicious, intricate magic and horror and this was. none of that. this is also being tagged everywhere as fantasy which it is NOT at ALL, which was hugely disappointing along with, y'know, the rest of it. the only reason i kept slogging through was because i had hope that eventually even a hint of magic or spookiness would be introduced and things would turn around. I'm sure this will be a goldfinch situation where everyone raves about how they love it while i sit over here wondering if they're all just bullshitting because they think liking it will make them seem Literary and superior. um, 1/5.
November 18, 2022
if the characters were 50% more gay and the plot was 1000% more interesting this would’ve been a really good book
October 27, 2022
what does this girl have against walla walla washington
October 8, 2022
'The Cloisters' is slow, overly earnest and derivative. This is not Donna Tartt, although the effort desperately to emulate 'The Secret History' is one of the novel's defining features.
The novel feels lazy because it is expecting its readership to have read other literature dealing with these tropes, settings, and characters, and so Katy Hays writes in a slack manner that assumes prior familiarity with, for instance, characters' motivations in 'Dark Academia' novels, amongst other things. Characters' behaviour is launched into here without preliminary establishment of motive or drive. This applies even to Ann, the main character. I was asking myself till beyond three-quarters in why Ann does what she does with the stolen tarot card. The novel takes much too long to offer what feels like a cursory glance at Ann’s motivations:
On top of this, I was bewildered at how Ann could be so blind to Leo and Rachel’s involvement with each other for almost the entire novel!
So much of this book, particularly the wildly padded-out first 50%, speaks not to character or plot, but to dumps of research outcomes. Hays's coyness of style is mixed, curiously, with a brand of clunky author-splaining where characters decry huge chunks of author research as speech, as unnatural and stuffy as if they were reading excerpts from a dictionary. And from here, the author veers into the downright patronising:
Some of Hays’s views on the academic world are outrageous: ‘I thought little about his obsessions because we were all too preoccupied with our own. That was, after all, what being an academic was all about.’
Katy Hays’s biography states that she has worked at major art institutions, but that fact doesn’t tally with the uncannily naïve depictions of the mechanisms behind the fine running of museums and galleries. If you work/have worked within the sector, prepare to feel patronised:
‘The Cloisters' reads like a hesitant debut novel; the author too naïve to meet the expectations of readers of this sub-genre of ‘Dark Academia’, which is becoming so tired a type of fiction that it requires handling with verve and substance if it is to be accomplished with success, especially by first-time authors. Only at 45% did a trace of a plot emerge, and I wished to goodness we could have foregone the first almost-half of the novel.
With a premise that promises a novel ‘Deeply researched, lushly and thrillingly told’, as the blurb claims; a novel that ‘explores the blurred line between what is real and imagined, the magical melding of the modern and the arcane – and the power we have to defy what is written in the stars in order to shape our own destinies’, this book should not have taken 50% of its substance to become interesting.
The blurb is more expansive and finely crafted than the novel itself; for ‘deeply researched’, read ‘puffed out with detail’ or ‘lacking in plot and structure’.
All citations given are from a digital advanced copy and therefore subject to change in final publication.
My thanks are due to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the chance to review in exchange for my honest opinion.
The novel feels lazy because it is expecting its readership to have read other literature dealing with these tropes, settings, and characters, and so Katy Hays writes in a slack manner that assumes prior familiarity with, for instance, characters' motivations in 'Dark Academia' novels, amongst other things. Characters' behaviour is launched into here without preliminary establishment of motive or drive. This applies even to Ann, the main character. I was asking myself till beyond three-quarters in why Ann does what she does with the stolen tarot card. The novel takes much too long to offer what feels like a cursory glance at Ann’s motivations:
'The discovery, we both knew, would cement our careers, our stature in the academic world. It was an opportunity neither of us could risk by sharing what we knew with Patrick. Both of us knew how easily, how quickly the narrative of the discovery might shift, from us – two young women at the beginning of their careers – to Patrick, an established researcher of the occult. And so we had decided to keep quiet and bide our time.’Motives are revealed at around the 90% mark, which is far too late to strain my interest. After that, the protagonist's behaviour is simply bizarre and unbelievable:
'What did one say to a friend who has committed murder? How was it possible to pass the time until you simply couldn’t avoid the truth any longer?’Finally, at the end of the book, the author seems to realise what has been lacking and spells things out for the reader in the quaintest of manners:
‘New York had shown me how hungry I was. Hungry for joy and risk, hungry to admit, aloud to everyone around me, my ambitions. Hungry to realize them. Instead of being filled with fear, I was filled with a kind of giddy joy. And the knowledge that in a city like this, it was possible to start over, to make the memory of my father something that drove me forward, not something that held me back.’Protagonist Ann's dewey-eyed reaction to both Patrick and Leo is cringe-worthy and lacking any edge or originality:
'I could feel his breath on my neck. The way he inhabited my space was always a little unnerving, taking up too much of it, like it wasn’t mine, but his. And while it should have made me nervous, it only made me excited. It made me want to unlock all the carefully compartmentalized qualities in my life and let them loose.’The scenes between Ann and Leo are nauseating. For instance, when Ann asks for Leo’s number, he says, "Give me a pen. I'll give it to you", then the following:
“Give me your arm,” said Leo, and I held it out obediently, enjoying the way he embossed the number on my skin, onto the softest part of my arm. “There,” he said. “Now you have it.” ’In response, Ann gushes: ‘It was like Leo’s attraction to me was expansive and hungry, like it might eat the table, the bar, my life. I wanted to let him.’
On top of this, I was bewildered at how Ann could be so blind to Leo and Rachel’s involvement with each other for almost the entire novel!
So much of this book, particularly the wildly padded-out first 50%, speaks not to character or plot, but to dumps of research outcomes. Hays's coyness of style is mixed, curiously, with a brand of clunky author-splaining where characters decry huge chunks of author research as speech, as unnatural and stuffy as if they were reading excerpts from a dictionary. And from here, the author veers into the downright patronising:
‘ “Yes, but tarot,” Aruna interrupted, “only became part of the occult in the eighteenth century. Before, it was a trump-taking game. Something like bridge, played by the aristocracy. Four people, sitting around a table, shuffling and dealing a simple deck of cards. It wasn’t until that charlatan Antoine de Gebelin got involved that tarot cards were transformed into something more” – she waved her hands – “mystical.”A small thing, but linguistic repetition that is not used as a purposeful technique really irks me, and Hays, here, is tiresomely fond of the term 'parse' and uses it ad infinitum. Similarly overused is the word ‘scholar’; quite the antiquated term in British English.
“Gebelin,” Rachel said, facing me, “was a notorious eighteenth-century rake of the French court. And he suggested that Egyptian priests, using the Book of Thoth, not fifteenth-century Italians, were responsible for the creation of the tarot deck, which consists, of course, of four suits like our regular deck, plus twenty-two cards that we now call the Major Arcana. Things like the High Priestess card, for example. Which used to be the Popess.”
Some of Hays’s views on the academic world are outrageous: ‘I thought little about his obsessions because we were all too preoccupied with our own. That was, after all, what being an academic was all about.’
Katy Hays’s biography states that she has worked at major art institutions, but that fact doesn’t tally with the uncannily naïve depictions of the mechanisms behind the fine running of museums and galleries. If you work/have worked within the sector, prepare to feel patronised:
‘So while I hadn’t been through the storage facilities on Fifth Avenue, I knew from my brief time at The Cloisters that precious items were stored in all sorts of ways. So long as the room was climate controlled and protected from harsh sunlight, very little else mattered. But of course, visitors to museums don’t see works of art in that way, as functional objects to be rotated and deployed to create meaning. They see each one as a treasure, something they imagine finding in their attic, among their family storage, something they give immense value to out of sentimentality and lack of true research.’Throughout, I was shocked at how wildly inaccurate and wacky Hays’s depiction of the museums and galleries sector is:
‘We both laughed and I thought to myself again how remarkable it was that we were rarely bothered by security, that we were allowed to work, to walk, to pass through the spaces of The Cloisters whenever and however we wanted, despite the value of work on display.’The writing here is clunky and in places reads as though sections of action or paragraphs of description have been moved around in editing and later scenes haven't been adjusted to reflect the removal or reshuffling of material in the draft. For instance, after Ann has had exactly two readings of the tarot, the text describes her as reporting: 'I had started to rely upon the cards to guide me, to sharpen [my intuition].’ Sections that exist side-by-side are, in places, plainly contradictory. For instance, Ann relates that Leo’s working area in the museum gardens shows ‘a tenderness to how carefully everything was arranged, to the handfuls of flowers tied up and drying from pegs on the wall, to the way the cutting shears were all tucked, sharp end down, into terra-cotta pots.’ Yet, within a few paragraphs, Ann describes the same location thus:
‘There were garden items like grass trimmers and cutting shears littered in piles, stacks of empty pots and bits of errant stonework tucked out of sight of any curious visitors. There were trash cans full of trimmings and a clump of leaves had been spread across the composting bed.’I can't help but think that a final proof-read and edit is necessary here to iron out these chunks of chapters that read achronologically or antithetically.
‘The Cloisters' reads like a hesitant debut novel; the author too naïve to meet the expectations of readers of this sub-genre of ‘Dark Academia’, which is becoming so tired a type of fiction that it requires handling with verve and substance if it is to be accomplished with success, especially by first-time authors. Only at 45% did a trace of a plot emerge, and I wished to goodness we could have foregone the first almost-half of the novel.
With a premise that promises a novel ‘Deeply researched, lushly and thrillingly told’, as the blurb claims; a novel that ‘explores the blurred line between what is real and imagined, the magical melding of the modern and the arcane – and the power we have to defy what is written in the stars in order to shape our own destinies’, this book should not have taken 50% of its substance to become interesting.
The blurb is more expansive and finely crafted than the novel itself; for ‘deeply researched’, read ‘puffed out with detail’ or ‘lacking in plot and structure’.
All citations given are from a digital advanced copy and therefore subject to change in final publication.
My thanks are due to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the chance to review in exchange for my honest opinion.
July 31, 2022
Well well.. what do we have here?? I admit that I was SOLD at the cover alone..😍 Gothic vibes.. NYC…better yet.. The MET… tarot cards 🎴… a garden 🪴 full of deadly plants… GOTHIC VIBES…need I go on?! 😂
When Ann gets a chance to spend a summer as an intern at The MET she jumps at the chance… bye bye Walla Walla, WA… 💼 🏃♀️…she literally couldn’t get out of her hometown fast enough..
Except when she gets to The Met they assign her to a gothic freestanding museum called The Cloisters… that is known for their research in divination. Sooo not what she expected! 😳 Which BTW I goggled it and the photos are stunning. 😍
She became fast friends with Rachel… who basically was an “IT Girl” …👜👱♀️👠 💰 … then things got very interesting…I wasn’t sure if these two were really friends or frenemies..🤔
The writing was beautiful and so atmospheric… I could see the old walls of the office… the creepiness of the garden… and the darkness of the night. These girls were crazy to go there at night in my opinion.😳 I wasn’t sure what to expect…😬
As the story unfolds.. I was shocked at how the twists hit .. 🤭… they unfolded slowly as the story came together.. they were shocking to say the least. I did not see that coming…
A slow burn that drew me in and made me appreciate every detail. Beautiful writing.. very unique premise… a wonderful debut. I can’t wait to see what @heykatyhays comes up with next! 😍
Thank you @atriabooks for my gorgeous gifted copy!! Pub date is November 1st! 🥳🥳
🍁🍁🍁 Do you love a dark gothic vibe book like I do?? What is your last “gothic vibe” book that you read? Do you know anything about tarot cards? I admit I do not. 🤷♀️…Is this one on your list? 🍁🍁🍁
When Ann gets a chance to spend a summer as an intern at The MET she jumps at the chance… bye bye Walla Walla, WA… 💼 🏃♀️…she literally couldn’t get out of her hometown fast enough..
Except when she gets to The Met they assign her to a gothic freestanding museum called The Cloisters… that is known for their research in divination. Sooo not what she expected! 😳 Which BTW I goggled it and the photos are stunning. 😍
She became fast friends with Rachel… who basically was an “IT Girl” …👜👱♀️👠 💰 … then things got very interesting…I wasn’t sure if these two were really friends or frenemies..🤔
The writing was beautiful and so atmospheric… I could see the old walls of the office… the creepiness of the garden… and the darkness of the night. These girls were crazy to go there at night in my opinion.😳 I wasn’t sure what to expect…😬
As the story unfolds.. I was shocked at how the twists hit .. 🤭… they unfolded slowly as the story came together.. they were shocking to say the least. I did not see that coming…
A slow burn that drew me in and made me appreciate every detail. Beautiful writing.. very unique premise… a wonderful debut. I can’t wait to see what @heykatyhays comes up with next! 😍
Thank you @atriabooks for my gorgeous gifted copy!! Pub date is November 1st! 🥳🥳
🍁🍁🍁 Do you love a dark gothic vibe book like I do?? What is your last “gothic vibe” book that you read? Do you know anything about tarot cards? I admit I do not. 🤷♀️…Is this one on your list? 🍁🍁🍁
March 1, 2023
the problem with setting a book in one of the coolest places in the world is that real life is going to be better than the story.
and the problem with the word "cloisters" is that i hate it.
it's worse than moist.
i didn't hate this book, on the other hand, but i would 200% have rather just gone to the museum, and 100% have rather read about the museum itself, than whatever confusing hijinks and love triangle bullsh*ttery happened here.
i'm filing this with The Woman in the Library as part of a burgeoning subgenre i call Actual Places Are More Interesting Than The Stuff You Made Up, Even Though You Had The Power Of Imagination On Your Side.
rolls off the tongue.
bottom line: meh!
2.5
----------------
tbr review
committing a huge act of bravery (reading this even though it contains one of the worst sounding words in the english language)
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
and the problem with the word "cloisters" is that i hate it.
it's worse than moist.
i didn't hate this book, on the other hand, but i would 200% have rather just gone to the museum, and 100% have rather read about the museum itself, than whatever confusing hijinks and love triangle bullsh*ttery happened here.
i'm filing this with The Woman in the Library as part of a burgeoning subgenre i call Actual Places Are More Interesting Than The Stuff You Made Up, Even Though You Had The Power Of Imagination On Your Side.
rolls off the tongue.
bottom line: meh!
2.5
----------------
tbr review
committing a huge act of bravery (reading this even though it contains one of the worst sounding words in the english language)
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
September 18, 2022
Free will or fate? What if your whole life has already been decided for you? What about choice and chance? What omens hover over The Cloisters in New York City one summer? Are the characters futures inescapable? Ann Stillwell wants more than anything to escape Whitman, her college but most of all her home in Walla Walla, WA, as grief over the death of her father is hanging over her like a dark cloud. She heads to NYC to work as an intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art but she’s disappointed to discover there is now no place for her. However, Patrick Roland offers her work at The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park which specialises in medieval art. Is this fate or chance? She’s to work alongside Rachel Mondray who studies the history of the Tarot. What will the Tarot suggest about the future, which way will the Wheel of Fortune spin? Who is Fortuna here? What will the oracles predict?
This is debut? Seriously? Oh my, there’s some amazing talent in these pages with such an assured touch it feels like a seasoned writer. It’s a beautifully written slow burner which utilises multiple senses and I find it magnetic and hypnotic reading. The atmosphere at The Cloisters is dazzling, mesmerising, almost intoxicating and overwhelming. The buildings and gardens being Medieval in style lend themselves to the Gothic vibes in the storytelling especially via the exhibition that Rachel and Ann have to curate on divination. This leads to some incredible discoveries and subsequent secrecy. The writing is infused with oddities and warnings, there’s some risk taking, as well as possession and control which leads to a feeling of suffocation, then distrust which mulches into fear. What is real and what is imagined is so intriguing and compelling. It’s shadowy at times with truths glimpsed but looming overall is ambition and lure and lustre of the Tarot.
The characterisation is excellent with some being conundrums. Is clever Ann as lacking in confidence as she seems? Is it a case of the depth of still waters? Is bold Rachel firmly in the centre of the Wheel of Fortune as Fortuna? What about Patrick? What’s his game and what about Leo in the magical medieval garden with all those weird and wonderful plants, what lies in his heart? Is he also playing games? What all this amounts to is a very intense tale with the promise or otherwise of the Tarot maybe/maybe not guiding all.
This novel captivates me (you can probably tell!) as it has everything I love blended in a novel from the historical background to a suspenseful mystery steeped in tension with dark Gothic vibes and hallelujah, a really good ending! It’s incredibly well researched and the author should be proud of what she has produced. It’s a big winner for me and one I highly recommend.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK/Transworld for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
This is debut? Seriously? Oh my, there’s some amazing talent in these pages with such an assured touch it feels like a seasoned writer. It’s a beautifully written slow burner which utilises multiple senses and I find it magnetic and hypnotic reading. The atmosphere at The Cloisters is dazzling, mesmerising, almost intoxicating and overwhelming. The buildings and gardens being Medieval in style lend themselves to the Gothic vibes in the storytelling especially via the exhibition that Rachel and Ann have to curate on divination. This leads to some incredible discoveries and subsequent secrecy. The writing is infused with oddities and warnings, there’s some risk taking, as well as possession and control which leads to a feeling of suffocation, then distrust which mulches into fear. What is real and what is imagined is so intriguing and compelling. It’s shadowy at times with truths glimpsed but looming overall is ambition and lure and lustre of the Tarot.
The characterisation is excellent with some being conundrums. Is clever Ann as lacking in confidence as she seems? Is it a case of the depth of still waters? Is bold Rachel firmly in the centre of the Wheel of Fortune as Fortuna? What about Patrick? What’s his game and what about Leo in the magical medieval garden with all those weird and wonderful plants, what lies in his heart? Is he also playing games? What all this amounts to is a very intense tale with the promise or otherwise of the Tarot maybe/maybe not guiding all.
This novel captivates me (you can probably tell!) as it has everything I love blended in a novel from the historical background to a suspenseful mystery steeped in tension with dark Gothic vibes and hallelujah, a really good ending! It’s incredibly well researched and the author should be proud of what she has produced. It’s a big winner for me and one I highly recommend.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK/Transworld for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
November 7, 2022
I feel like I read a completely different book than a lot of the other reviewers. I usually enjoy dark academia but my god, this book was SO slow. Almost nothing happens until 3/4 of the way through and you already know who is behind everything because there are only three characters.
The story follows Ann who is in New York for her summer internship at the Met when she is told that her internship no longer exists because the curator she was supposed to be under has left the country. Patrick and Rachel, curator and researchers in the Cloister, swoop in and offer her a position there. She dives headlong into a search for a mysterious tarot deck when suddenly someone turns up dead. Is it related to the tarot cards? Is it something more? Ann is determined to find out the truth.
Ann is absolutely, mind numbingly boring. She retains no personality whatsoever other than to be a willing sponge for Rachel and Patrick and Leo. The story also doesn’t kick off until deep in the book and even then it’s not all that interesting. I really couldn’t wait for this one to be over, it was clearly not for me.
The story follows Ann who is in New York for her summer internship at the Met when she is told that her internship no longer exists because the curator she was supposed to be under has left the country. Patrick and Rachel, curator and researchers in the Cloister, swoop in and offer her a position there. She dives headlong into a search for a mysterious tarot deck when suddenly someone turns up dead. Is it related to the tarot cards? Is it something more? Ann is determined to find out the truth.
Ann is absolutely, mind numbingly boring. She retains no personality whatsoever other than to be a willing sponge for Rachel and Patrick and Leo. The story also doesn’t kick off until deep in the book and even then it’s not all that interesting. I really couldn’t wait for this one to be over, it was clearly not for me.
November 29, 2022
Katy Hays debut is beguiling, a moreish twisty gothic novel set in a sweltering New York summer, immersing the reader in the atmospheric medieval art museum and gardens, The Cloisters. It delves into the lives and culture of desperately ambitious academics, engaging in research in the field of divination, the widely used practices in the medieval era to predict the future. This includes the likes of geomancy, astrology, oracles, magic and the occult, but their focus is specifically on the history of tarot cards as they hunt for a breakthrough in proving the theory, that as well as their use as playing cards, they were being used for far more mystical purposes. A grieving and troubled Ann Stilwell will do anything to leave her small home town of Walla, Walla and her mother reeling from the overwhelming feelings of loss after the death of her beloved father.
She arrives in New York City, to take up the only summer internship offer she received at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, instead she finds it is no longer available, so is taken on instead by Patrick Roland, the curator of The Cloisters. Keen on inserting herself as a hardworking and invaluable presence, she wants to remain beyond the summer, she rushes headlong into building relationships, more particularly with the beautiful, wealthy and charismatic Rachel Mondray who she works closely with. She has nothing in common with the academics, but she is ravenous, hungry for knowledge, to experience all the differences, she wants to absorb all that she can of New York, the joy, taking chances, jumping into a edgy, if casual, relationship with Leo, the gardener. Ann wants the city to mould her into a different person, confident, more nakedly ambitious and opportunistic. It becomes clear that Patrick wants her to step beyond the realm of rationality when it comes to tarot cards, and to believe, she is uncertain, but there is no question that she can feel the cards come alive with an electric energy in her hands.
Ann's relationship with Rachel becomes intense, their lives closely intertwined, but as she receives warnings of the deaths that follow her, she starts to wonder, does she really know Rachel? Hays weaves a spellbinding and disturbing gothic story of academic circles, class, power, poisonous plants that served as ancient remedies, tarot cards, theft, betrayal, obsession, ruthlessness, and toxic relationships. Even as we might think we know Ann, with her cunning and guile, the knowledge gained through the feelings the cards give her, the flashes of what is coming, her life unravelling as she tries to walk into the future she wants, we find there is more to her grief for a lost father. This is unsettling and compulsive storytelling with its rich descriptions, the sense of claustrophobia, the complex moralities, and the memorable characters, whose lives I got drawn into with ease. I think this novel will appeal to the many readers attracted to the dark, twisted and the gothic. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
She arrives in New York City, to take up the only summer internship offer she received at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, instead she finds it is no longer available, so is taken on instead by Patrick Roland, the curator of The Cloisters. Keen on inserting herself as a hardworking and invaluable presence, she wants to remain beyond the summer, she rushes headlong into building relationships, more particularly with the beautiful, wealthy and charismatic Rachel Mondray who she works closely with. She has nothing in common with the academics, but she is ravenous, hungry for knowledge, to experience all the differences, she wants to absorb all that she can of New York, the joy, taking chances, jumping into a edgy, if casual, relationship with Leo, the gardener. Ann wants the city to mould her into a different person, confident, more nakedly ambitious and opportunistic. It becomes clear that Patrick wants her to step beyond the realm of rationality when it comes to tarot cards, and to believe, she is uncertain, but there is no question that she can feel the cards come alive with an electric energy in her hands.
Ann's relationship with Rachel becomes intense, their lives closely intertwined, but as she receives warnings of the deaths that follow her, she starts to wonder, does she really know Rachel? Hays weaves a spellbinding and disturbing gothic story of academic circles, class, power, poisonous plants that served as ancient remedies, tarot cards, theft, betrayal, obsession, ruthlessness, and toxic relationships. Even as we might think we know Ann, with her cunning and guile, the knowledge gained through the feelings the cards give her, the flashes of what is coming, her life unravelling as she tries to walk into the future she wants, we find there is more to her grief for a lost father. This is unsettling and compulsive storytelling with its rich descriptions, the sense of claustrophobia, the complex moralities, and the memorable characters, whose lives I got drawn into with ease. I think this novel will appeal to the many readers attracted to the dark, twisted and the gothic. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
August 5, 2022
My Reviews Can Also Be Found On:
My Blog - Twitter - Amazon - The Book Review Crew
This was a slow burn of a novel but it worked well with this story. This book was an education and a very interesting one at that, you can certainly tell that the author put a lot of research into writing this story. I don't normally read this type of book but my goal for 2022 is to step out of my comfort zone and am I ever glad I did as I really liked this. It is very dark and has a gothic atmosphere. I liked the take on women's friendships and the fact that Ann is just coming into her own in New York City. All the characters are well developed but Ann really shone in my eyes. And of course, the setting was a character too.
The writing style will keep you turning the pages, it was so beautiful, lyrical, and intelligent. The mystery of the whodunnit almost feels secondary to the character's relationships, especially Ann and Rachel's, and it still caught me by surprise. I especially enjoyed the tarot card storyline and found it to be completely unique and so very interesting. If you enjoy books with a dark academia theme, literary suspense with gothic vibes, murder, and a mystical feel you will find plenty to like about this one.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, Atria Books, and Katy Hays for the giving of the ARC.
#NetGalley
This was a slow burn of a novel but it worked well with this story. This book was an education and a very interesting one at that, you can certainly tell that the author put a lot of research into writing this story. I don't normally read this type of book but my goal for 2022 is to step out of my comfort zone and am I ever glad I did as I really liked this. It is very dark and has a gothic atmosphere. I liked the take on women's friendships and the fact that Ann is just coming into her own in New York City. All the characters are well developed but Ann really shone in my eyes. And of course, the setting was a character too.
The writing style will keep you turning the pages, it was so beautiful, lyrical, and intelligent. The mystery of the whodunnit almost feels secondary to the character's relationships, especially Ann and Rachel's, and it still caught me by surprise. I especially enjoyed the tarot card storyline and found it to be completely unique and so very interesting. If you enjoy books with a dark academia theme, literary suspense with gothic vibes, murder, and a mystical feel you will find plenty to like about this one.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, Atria Books, and Katy Hays for the giving of the ARC.
#NetGalley
August 28, 2022
The Cloisters is one of those books that falls in the "cool idea, poor execution" category.
Ultimately, for me, the main plot points make no sense. Why is Rachel universally loved yet has many shady things/illegal activities associated with her that are openly known? Why are we supposed to be invested in tarot cards especially since it seems like the idea is that some of the characters believe they can tell the future while others see it as a research topic?
Ann also leans heavily into being a Mary Sue, which definitely distracts from the story. She's a down on her luck character, grew up with working-class parents who has never left her tiny hometown, yet fluently speaks 7 languages and is immediately recognized as something special by all of the main characters in the book.
There are some lovely descriptions in the book, and it is hitting on the dark academic trend that's so popular right now. If you want to read some nice descriptions and aren't too particular about plot points making sense, the book is fine for that.
Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC of the book.
Ultimately, for me, the main plot points make no sense. Why is Rachel universally loved yet has many shady things/illegal activities associated with her that are openly known? Why are we supposed to be invested in tarot cards especially since it seems like the idea is that some of the characters believe they can tell the future while others see it as a research topic?
Ann also leans heavily into being a Mary Sue, which definitely distracts from the story. She's a down on her luck character, grew up with working-class parents who has never left her tiny hometown, yet fluently speaks 7 languages and is immediately recognized as something special by all of the main characters in the book.
There are some lovely descriptions in the book, and it is hitting on the dark academic trend that's so popular right now. If you want to read some nice descriptions and aren't too particular about plot points making sense, the book is fine for that.
Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC of the book.
November 1, 2022
As long as I’ve had a Goodreads account, I’ve been keeping track of books with similarities to my long-standing favourite novel, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. I have a shelf for them, called secret-history-esque. Nowadays, however, these books have a more widely recognised appellation – ‘dark academia’ – and there’s a steady supply of novels seemingly created specifically to fit its parameters.
The Cloisters is one such book. This may seem a bit unfair, but I truly don’t mean it as a criticism when I say it could have been written to order for this trend. It has the scholarly setting: The Cloisters, a museum of medieval art and architecture in New York City. The outsider protagonist – Ann, a naive but driven graduate with a love of ancient languages (thanks to her autodidact father) – whose wealthy, well-educated new colleagues seem to offer a ticket to a world of learning, society and glamour beyond her wildest dreams. The uneven, arguably toxic friendship between Ann and the charismatic Rachel. There are esoteric themes and motifs: fate, tarot cards, botanical drugs. It even has the portentous ‘if only I’d known then what I know now...’ prologue beloved of the genre. Finally, of course, there’s a mysterious death or two.
Because I seek out this type of story, I’ve read books exactly like this before. While the tarot angle is interesting, The Cloisters doesn’t really do much that feels new. But I’ve written before about how much I enjoy this plot structure as long as it hits all the right notes, and the familiar formula has yet to lose its lustre for me. The Cloisters is executed perfectly: a heady book to get lost in, a perfect summer novel. The atmosphere of the setting, with its verdant gardens and myriad hidden corners, is undeniably intoxicating.
With a tangled web of relationships at its heart, this book reminded me of ‘coming of age in the big city’ narratives like Sweetbitter as well as its more obvious kin in the ‘dark academia’ niche (especially this year’s Stargazer). I’m glad I read it in August, the perfect month for revelling in such an unabashedly indulgent tale.
I received an advance review copy of The Cloisters from the publisher through Edelweiss.
TinyLetter | Linktree
The Cloisters is one such book. This may seem a bit unfair, but I truly don’t mean it as a criticism when I say it could have been written to order for this trend. It has the scholarly setting: The Cloisters, a museum of medieval art and architecture in New York City. The outsider protagonist – Ann, a naive but driven graduate with a love of ancient languages (thanks to her autodidact father) – whose wealthy, well-educated new colleagues seem to offer a ticket to a world of learning, society and glamour beyond her wildest dreams. The uneven, arguably toxic friendship between Ann and the charismatic Rachel. There are esoteric themes and motifs: fate, tarot cards, botanical drugs. It even has the portentous ‘if only I’d known then what I know now...’ prologue beloved of the genre. Finally, of course, there’s a mysterious death or two.
Because I seek out this type of story, I’ve read books exactly like this before. While the tarot angle is interesting, The Cloisters doesn’t really do much that feels new. But I’ve written before about how much I enjoy this plot structure as long as it hits all the right notes, and the familiar formula has yet to lose its lustre for me. The Cloisters is executed perfectly: a heady book to get lost in, a perfect summer novel. The atmosphere of the setting, with its verdant gardens and myriad hidden corners, is undeniably intoxicating.
With a tangled web of relationships at its heart, this book reminded me of ‘coming of age in the big city’ narratives like Sweetbitter as well as its more obvious kin in the ‘dark academia’ niche (especially this year’s Stargazer). I’m glad I read it in August, the perfect month for revelling in such an unabashedly indulgent tale.
I received an advance review copy of The Cloisters from the publisher through Edelweiss.
TinyLetter | Linktree
February 14, 2023
You can’t publish an academic paper using secondary notes of a dead man that were found in the trash without referencing the original sources (that you don’t know).
I wanted to like this book so bad. But I couldn’t. This was a marketing FAIL. It’s being sold as a dark academia / fantasy / genre bending / high stakes novel and it was none of the above.
The pacing was horrid. NOTHING happened for almost the first two-thirds of the book. The event that happens at that point should have been the kick off point of the book.
The characters were horrible. And I don’t just mean they were horrible people (they were); but they were poorly written and constructed. They were inconsistent and all over the place. Ann was the worst of all. She was meant to be so smart but she was stupid af. She was inconsistent in her internal monologues. She judged the exact same actions differently in other people for no apparent reason but yet could do no wrong herself. She kept telling us how New York City changed her but we saw none of that. As far as I can tell she was insufferable before she got there.
The idea of fate / choice in the story was bonkers. If you didn’t tell me this was meant to be fantastical I wouldn’t have noticed. It was a poor excuse for Ann to take no responsibility for anything in her life and blame “fate.” Tarot cards has such a big role in the story (apparently) but were really poorly done. I didn’t realize Ann believed in it until she told me. She went from being like they have to be kidding me to living her life by the cards so quickly I didn’t even notice.
The twists were obvious. Even the last one that I think was meant to be shocking.
So much of what happened in this “academic setting” seemed ridiculous.
I wanted a dark fantastical story and got a drawn out, insufferable, mess.
SPOILERS BELOW:
You’re telling me that this woman hit her father with a car, ran back once she noticed, held him, he told her to run and not ruin her life over it (in a full on conversation?!?) and she did(!!!), without once stopping to think maybe she should call an ambulance?? Then this same woman by the end of the story convinces herself that we don’t have any free will and it was all fate and therefore not even a little bit her fault? Because she would have taken a different road if she’d known?! After she judges Rachel for deluding herself with the same logic?? (Before murdering her in the same way she killed her parents.) I can’t with this book. The ending is what made this one star for me. Also it was super obvious she had something to do with her dad’s death because the way it kept being described as her “running away from her past.” Yeah, apparently a literal hit and run. Across the county.
Leo wanted to still see her after she reported him to the police for theft and framed him for murder?? What?!
No security in storage apparently. And no one noticed a secondary green house.
I wanted to like this book so bad. But I couldn’t. This was a marketing FAIL. It’s being sold as a dark academia / fantasy / genre bending / high stakes novel and it was none of the above.
The pacing was horrid. NOTHING happened for almost the first two-thirds of the book. The event that happens at that point should have been the kick off point of the book.
The characters were horrible. And I don’t just mean they were horrible people (they were); but they were poorly written and constructed. They were inconsistent and all over the place. Ann was the worst of all. She was meant to be so smart but she was stupid af. She was inconsistent in her internal monologues. She judged the exact same actions differently in other people for no apparent reason but yet could do no wrong herself. She kept telling us how New York City changed her but we saw none of that. As far as I can tell she was insufferable before she got there.
The idea of fate / choice in the story was bonkers. If you didn’t tell me this was meant to be fantastical I wouldn’t have noticed. It was a poor excuse for Ann to take no responsibility for anything in her life and blame “fate.” Tarot cards has such a big role in the story (apparently) but were really poorly done. I didn’t realize Ann believed in it until she told me. She went from being like they have to be kidding me to living her life by the cards so quickly I didn’t even notice.
The twists were obvious. Even the last one that I think was meant to be shocking.
So much of what happened in this “academic setting” seemed ridiculous.
I wanted a dark fantastical story and got a drawn out, insufferable, mess.
SPOILERS BELOW:
You’re telling me that this woman hit her father with a car, ran back once she noticed, held him, he told her to run and not ruin her life over it (in a full on conversation?!?) and she did(!!!), without once stopping to think maybe she should call an ambulance?? Then this same woman by the end of the story convinces herself that we don’t have any free will and it was all fate and therefore not even a little bit her fault? Because she would have taken a different road if she’d known?! After she judges Rachel for deluding herself with the same logic?? (Before murdering her in the same way she killed her parents.) I can’t with this book. The ending is what made this one star for me. Also it was super obvious she had something to do with her dad’s death because the way it kept being described as her “running away from her past.” Yeah, apparently a literal hit and run. Across the county.
Leo wanted to still see her after she reported him to the police for theft and framed him for murder?? What?!
No security in storage apparently. And no one noticed a secondary green house.
November 15, 2022
2.75⭐
Say you're baking bread. You can precisely weigh and measure all the ingredients, proof the dough identically as every other time you've baked it, and use the same tray and oven and baking time. You can keep all the variables under your control the same as always. And yet. Sometimes, you end up with the perfect focaccia. Sometimes, it's a flat, dense, disaster.
The Cloisters sits somewhere in between those extremes.
Many of the right ingredients were there, they just didn't come together right.
The theme of fate was explored heavy-handedly, often to the point of irritation.
The setting was amazing and the atmospheric world Hays brings to life for the reader is darkly fascinating.
I just wish it had lived up to its potential.
Say you're baking bread. You can precisely weigh and measure all the ingredients, proof the dough identically as every other time you've baked it, and use the same tray and oven and baking time. You can keep all the variables under your control the same as always. And yet. Sometimes, you end up with the perfect focaccia. Sometimes, it's a flat, dense, disaster.
The Cloisters sits somewhere in between those extremes.
Many of the right ingredients were there, they just didn't come together right.
The theme of fate was explored heavy-handedly, often to the point of irritation.
The setting was amazing and the atmospheric world Hays brings to life for the reader is darkly fascinating.
I just wish it had lived up to its potential.
October 28, 2022
It has been ten years since I first visited The Cloisters and it is a treasured memory. The gardens feel secluded and evoke feelings of serenity and timelessness. Inside are gorgeous mementos of an iconic period in history. Even the teenagers I was chaperoning that day were visibly calmed in those green spaces. This debut features a favorite landmark and gives it a dark underbelly. When Ann goes to work, there are undercurrents of betrayal and the potential for danger. Katy Hays weaves a creative tale that ends in unexpected ways. Extra points for the twists we find in the last 25%. That being said, I am not a believer in tarot cards and found their constant presence to be a bit tiresome. I don't believe any of the characters really believed in them either. They could have just as well been reading their horoscope or rolling dice. The plot also seemed to take quite some time to get going -- so 3.5 stars rounded up for establishing a strong sense of place.
Thank you to Atria Books and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Atria Books and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
May 10, 2024
3.5/5 ⭐
This would be a perfect example of a something-and-a-half star rating because, to me, it was more than a 3, not a full 4 either but right in-between. Even so, I've decided to award it the upper rating because I did enjoy it.
Maybe it was because of the gloomy, rainy day outside (or maybe not who knows) but this was nonetheless a ✨vibe✨.
Did this drag? Yes, a little bit and I couldn't really see a finality to the whole plot, but it wasn't entirely pointless. I mean, it's a fairly short book and there are other factors that elevate the overall anatomy of the plot, in my opinion.
The atmosphere is just so good. Think of a cosy, dark-academia style of gothic, think of Katherine de Medici types of poisons, think of early Renaissance tapestries, think of early days astrology, think of Medieval witchcraft and bring them all into today's New York where art and history museums are a whole aesthetic at this point.
Yes, I did enjoy this a lot and I got to be around talks about tarot cards, astrology, mythology and old, long-dead languages for almost 400 pages.
As for the thriller part - it felt like that was one part that was still loading.
Even if it had thriller elements, I can't really call this a thriller. To me, it felt like a cosy dark academia novel with elements of history, thriller, linguistics, art and maybe even a little bit of magical realism. It was, overall, a good novel. And that cover is gorgeous, it begs for you to just pick it up and read it on a lazy, rainy day!
This would be a perfect example of a something-and-a-half star rating because, to me, it was more than a 3, not a full 4 either but right in-between. Even so, I've decided to award it the upper rating because I did enjoy it.
Maybe it was because of the gloomy, rainy day outside (or maybe not who knows) but this was nonetheless a ✨vibe✨.
Did this drag? Yes, a little bit and I couldn't really see a finality to the whole plot, but it wasn't entirely pointless. I mean, it's a fairly short book and there are other factors that elevate the overall anatomy of the plot, in my opinion.
The atmosphere is just so good. Think of a cosy, dark-academia style of gothic, think of Katherine de Medici types of poisons, think of early Renaissance tapestries, think of early days astrology, think of Medieval witchcraft and bring them all into today's New York where art and history museums are a whole aesthetic at this point.
Yes, I did enjoy this a lot and I got to be around talks about tarot cards, astrology, mythology and old, long-dead languages for almost 400 pages.
As for the thriller part - it felt like that was one part that was still loading.
Even if it had thriller elements, I can't really call this a thriller. To me, it felt like a cosy dark academia novel with elements of history, thriller, linguistics, art and maybe even a little bit of magical realism. It was, overall, a good novel. And that cover is gorgeous, it begs for you to just pick it up and read it on a lazy, rainy day!
Want to read
May 20, 2022Comparing a book to THE SECRET HISTORY instantly makes my expectations go from 0 to 99
November 26, 2023
I am really in the minority here. I found nothing Gothic, dark academia or atmospheric in this book at all. And I've spent a lot of time at the Cloisters! And know a lot about Tarot so I thought I was perfect audience. Alas.
For those looking for dark academia or the Ninth House, look elsewhere. This is more like if Joe Goldberg was split into four characters hanging out at the Cloisters. Lies, spying, murdery vibes, inappropriate relationships. I'm also not entirely sure who was actually invested in the Tarot and why were they really? Besides Patrick was anyone actually all that obsessed? Meh.
The book was chaotic. Tarot and occult seemed very important to the plot but it was woven in so haphazardly it could've literally been anything else. I still dont understand Ann as a character (and the deal with her dad). There were moments of what felt like a bare bones DaVinci code but even that didn't go anywhere.
It boils down to academia being hard to make a name for yourself, it being very male dominated and I guess sociopaths finding their way to each other in a very non entertaining way.
Books like this needs more depth, more history, more mystery. There's nothing supernatural at play here either.
I was so excited to read this book and I saw someone mentioned that those who liked The Lost Apothecary may enjoy this (I am not one of those ppl so that may explain this).
Clearly a lot of research went into this, hence the 2 stars and it's not a sluggish read so the pacing is good. It just failed to live up to the premise for me.
For those looking for dark academia or the Ninth House, look elsewhere. This is more like if Joe Goldberg was split into four characters hanging out at the Cloisters. Lies, spying, murdery vibes, inappropriate relationships. I'm also not entirely sure who was actually invested in the Tarot and why were they really? Besides Patrick was anyone actually all that obsessed? Meh.
The book was chaotic. Tarot and occult seemed very important to the plot but it was woven in so haphazardly it could've literally been anything else. I still dont understand Ann as a character (and the deal with her dad). There were moments of what felt like a bare bones DaVinci code but even that didn't go anywhere.
It boils down to academia being hard to make a name for yourself, it being very male dominated and I guess sociopaths finding their way to each other in a very non entertaining way.
Books like this needs more depth, more history, more mystery. There's nothing supernatural at play here either.
I was so excited to read this book and I saw someone mentioned that those who liked The Lost Apothecary may enjoy this (I am not one of those ppl so that may explain this).
Clearly a lot of research went into this, hence the 2 stars and it's not a sluggish read so the pacing is good. It just failed to live up to the premise for me.
September 24, 2024
First up, can we just take a moment to appreciate how incredibly beautiful the cover is…and furthermore, a moment to appreciate this is Katy’s debut novel!! An exceptional talent. I hope she writes many more books to come.
This book had me from the prologue. It was beyond intriguing; I was kicking my feet for what was yet to come 😝
‘If death was in the cards, would you want to know?’
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Ann was accepted to the Summer Associates Program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. However, upon her arrival in NY she was bluntly told there was no place for her anymore and was instead assigned to the Cloisters; the Met’s Gothic museum and garden. Patrick needed help with preparing an exhibition on divination. On the techniques and artworks that were used to tell the future.
The characters in this story were FANTASTIC; some of the best characterisation I have come across. It wasn’t jarring at all, everything flowed from Katy’s hand so smoothly. And to make things even better, Ann was my kind of girl - ‘The books took up more space than my clothes. They always had.’
Not only was the characterisation brilliant but the description to dialogue ratio was absolutely perfect 👌🏽 And saying that, the descriptions were incredible: ‘The offices of The Cloisters were a labyrinth of stone passageways and Gothic doors, darkly lit by wall scones that were placed a little too far apart, leaving shadowy gaps’ - This book was giving me all the right vibes!
Patrick’s character was particularly interesting, even from the first introduction he was giving of Gothic vibes. There was an intensity to him yet, he had a way of making you feel at ease with his politeness. For someone in a position of power, he was genuinely kind. Ann (and myself) fell a little in love with him right away.
It was more than a scholarship Ann was after - it was a transformation; a way of becoming someone else.
However, as the Morgan Symposium grew closer Patrick’s character began to change. He was difficult to be around and so the two girls - Ann and Rachel decided to take themselves off to Long Lake or as Rachel called it ‘The camp’…indicating she knew more than she was letting on about this weekend get away…I highly enjoyed the intrigue!
The weekend kicked off with a helicopter ride, followed by a few hours in a floatplane. And soon, Ann was met with a complex of outbuildings and a boathouse…nothing like the camp she had imagined. However, it was clear that Rachel knew exactly where she was going. Next, they were met with a caretaker! This is the kind of camping I would be up for 😂 but most of all, Ann was grateful for the distance from the city and solitude that came with it.
After the girls had made a groundbreaking discovery, Ann was tempted to forget The Cloisters and walk away. However, at this stage she realised something even more overwhelming…it wasn’t her choice to make. She enter was entering a dangerous game of toxic friendships, unstable truths and even deadly cocktails prepared from the gardens. In its wake, Ann found herself adrift. She wanted to stop. Rewind. Because all of it was a sudden and unwelcome intrusion- ‘the contemporary world puncturing the peace of The Cloisters’. We are left wondering where the pursuit of power will take her…
Ann must decide if the tarot cards can not only teach her about the past, but also about her future…
This book was EXACTLY the Gothic mystery I was hoping it would be 🤭 and honesty one of the BEST books I have read in quite some time!! Highly recommend, my friends ♥️
This book had me from the prologue. It was beyond intriguing; I was kicking my feet for what was yet to come 😝
‘If death was in the cards, would you want to know?’
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Ann was accepted to the Summer Associates Program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. However, upon her arrival in NY she was bluntly told there was no place for her anymore and was instead assigned to the Cloisters; the Met’s Gothic museum and garden. Patrick needed help with preparing an exhibition on divination. On the techniques and artworks that were used to tell the future.
The characters in this story were FANTASTIC; some of the best characterisation I have come across. It wasn’t jarring at all, everything flowed from Katy’s hand so smoothly. And to make things even better, Ann was my kind of girl - ‘The books took up more space than my clothes. They always had.’
Not only was the characterisation brilliant but the description to dialogue ratio was absolutely perfect 👌🏽 And saying that, the descriptions were incredible: ‘The offices of The Cloisters were a labyrinth of stone passageways and Gothic doors, darkly lit by wall scones that were placed a little too far apart, leaving shadowy gaps’ - This book was giving me all the right vibes!
Patrick’s character was particularly interesting, even from the first introduction he was giving of Gothic vibes. There was an intensity to him yet, he had a way of making you feel at ease with his politeness. For someone in a position of power, he was genuinely kind. Ann (and myself) fell a little in love with him right away.
It was more than a scholarship Ann was after - it was a transformation; a way of becoming someone else.
However, as the Morgan Symposium grew closer Patrick’s character began to change. He was difficult to be around and so the two girls - Ann and Rachel decided to take themselves off to Long Lake or as Rachel called it ‘The camp’…indicating she knew more than she was letting on about this weekend get away…I highly enjoyed the intrigue!
The weekend kicked off with a helicopter ride, followed by a few hours in a floatplane. And soon, Ann was met with a complex of outbuildings and a boathouse…nothing like the camp she had imagined. However, it was clear that Rachel knew exactly where she was going. Next, they were met with a caretaker! This is the kind of camping I would be up for 😂 but most of all, Ann was grateful for the distance from the city and solitude that came with it.
After the girls had made a groundbreaking discovery, Ann was tempted to forget The Cloisters and walk away. However, at this stage she realised something even more overwhelming…it wasn’t her choice to make. She enter was entering a dangerous game of toxic friendships, unstable truths and even deadly cocktails prepared from the gardens. In its wake, Ann found herself adrift. She wanted to stop. Rewind. Because all of it was a sudden and unwelcome intrusion- ‘the contemporary world puncturing the peace of The Cloisters’. We are left wondering where the pursuit of power will take her…
Ann must decide if the tarot cards can not only teach her about the past, but also about her future…
This book was EXACTLY the Gothic mystery I was hoping it would be 🤭 and honesty one of the BEST books I have read in quite some time!! Highly recommend, my friends ♥️
November 11, 2022
Alright. Honesty is the best policy, right? Here I go....the cover of this book is gorgeous. I love that it takes place in the art world. That's all the positive I have.
For the first 180 pages nothing happens. Seriously. It's boring AF. I have a deep love of the art world. I worked in a museum and I have multiple art degrees. The characters are flat pancakes. None are likable, which I realize now having read it, is part of the whole plot. The twist in the end should have blown my mind. It would have had I cared at all what happened to anyone in this book. When the twist(s) do come they aren't fully explained. There are so many questions. The characters motives are completely unclear.
I had such high hopes for this story. Unfortunately, for this reader it just didn't deliver.
For the first 180 pages nothing happens. Seriously. It's boring AF. I have a deep love of the art world. I worked in a museum and I have multiple art degrees. The characters are flat pancakes. None are likable, which I realize now having read it, is part of the whole plot. The twist in the end should have blown my mind. It would have had I cared at all what happened to anyone in this book. When the twist(s) do come they aren't fully explained. There are so many questions. The characters motives are completely unclear.
I had such high hopes for this story. Unfortunately, for this reader it just didn't deliver.
March 9, 2023
5 tarot-ific stars
Medieval history secrets, ancient tarot decks, a dark academia museum setting, and a close-knit group of coworkers who blur the lines between personal and professional... I'd love to live in this version of higher academia, please, potentiality for murder be damned.
Use of history: ★★★★★
Setting: ★★★★
Pacing: ★★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★★
"Death always came for me in August."
Ann Sitwell, a recent college graduate from Nowhere Important in small town Washington, has arrived in New York City. She's an art history graduate with a passion for esoteric Renaissance and late Medieval pieces with a bend toward the arcane—her niche topic isn't necessarily the most relevant, her internship opportunities slim. So when she arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to find out that they don't want her anymore, she's paralyzed.
But then, a fortuitous chance meeting with the enigmatic head curator at The Cloisters, Patrick, changes Ann's trajectory forever.
The Cloisters, a gothic museum settled right in the heart of Manhattan and incongruously secluded, is a museum unlike any Ann has ever laid eyes on. Its history seeps from the walls, and priceless collections, artifacts, and archives all tailored to Ann's areas of interest seem like an unbelievable dream.
There's Patrick, the established curator and head of The Cloisters, who has amassed a small and cloistered—pun so very intended—group around him for his current passion project in the occult. He's searching for hints of the earliest tarot decks and their potential links between the Medieval and Renaissance periods. He's searching, unbelievably, for a hint of true magic amongst the earliest of divination decks.
There is Leo, the gardener for the magical copse of deadly plants in the center of The Cloisters' museum structure. Surrounded by plants used historically in poisons, medicines, and aids to the divine, Leo's orbit as the non-academic in this seat of hushed knowledge is an itch that Ann just might find herself scratching.
And then there is Rachel, Patrick's other assistant. Beautiful, ethereal, unbelievably wealthy and connected Rachel. Rachel is also interested in this same field of study and welcomes Ann into the fold like a sorority sister inducting a new member, teaching her all of the tricks and ways of life in this small, set apart academic pocket.
When academic stakes meet deadly games, Ann just might find that she's found more than she bargained for...
Welcome to The Cloisters.
I'll keep my thoughts short and sweet on this one, because it's all high praise. This honey-slow, lingering, and deathly divine story was one that I could not stop reading. The Cloisters is a novel that breathes, sharing its secrets and obsessive drive with you. Ann's journey through grief, her enmeshing into this closed system of claustrophobic academics, and the ultimate unraveling of it all was such a treat to read.
Obvious comparisons have been made between this novel and other dark academia titans like The Secret History. I agree with those comparisons—if you like the standard favorites in the genre, then this novel is likely going to work for you. But I'd like to expand that filter a bit. If you're interested in magic and its weavings throughout our actual history, if you're interested in tarot, if you're interested in the study of the arcane in any way... this novel will likely work for you also.
Looking forward to more novels from this author!
Blog | Instagram | Libro.fm Audiobooks
Medieval history secrets, ancient tarot decks, a dark academia museum setting, and a close-knit group of coworkers who blur the lines between personal and professional... I'd love to live in this version of higher academia, please, potentiality for murder be damned.
Use of history: ★★★★★
Setting: ★★★★
Pacing: ★★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★★
"Death always came for me in August."
Ann Sitwell, a recent college graduate from Nowhere Important in small town Washington, has arrived in New York City. She's an art history graduate with a passion for esoteric Renaissance and late Medieval pieces with a bend toward the arcane—her niche topic isn't necessarily the most relevant, her internship opportunities slim. So when she arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to find out that they don't want her anymore, she's paralyzed.
But then, a fortuitous chance meeting with the enigmatic head curator at The Cloisters, Patrick, changes Ann's trajectory forever.
The Cloisters, a gothic museum settled right in the heart of Manhattan and incongruously secluded, is a museum unlike any Ann has ever laid eyes on. Its history seeps from the walls, and priceless collections, artifacts, and archives all tailored to Ann's areas of interest seem like an unbelievable dream.
There's Patrick, the established curator and head of The Cloisters, who has amassed a small and cloistered—pun so very intended—group around him for his current passion project in the occult. He's searching for hints of the earliest tarot decks and their potential links between the Medieval and Renaissance periods. He's searching, unbelievably, for a hint of true magic amongst the earliest of divination decks.
There is Leo, the gardener for the magical copse of deadly plants in the center of The Cloisters' museum structure. Surrounded by plants used historically in poisons, medicines, and aids to the divine, Leo's orbit as the non-academic in this seat of hushed knowledge is an itch that Ann just might find herself scratching.
And then there is Rachel, Patrick's other assistant. Beautiful, ethereal, unbelievably wealthy and connected Rachel. Rachel is also interested in this same field of study and welcomes Ann into the fold like a sorority sister inducting a new member, teaching her all of the tricks and ways of life in this small, set apart academic pocket.
When academic stakes meet deadly games, Ann just might find that she's found more than she bargained for...
Welcome to The Cloisters.
I'll keep my thoughts short and sweet on this one, because it's all high praise. This honey-slow, lingering, and deathly divine story was one that I could not stop reading. The Cloisters is a novel that breathes, sharing its secrets and obsessive drive with you. Ann's journey through grief, her enmeshing into this closed system of claustrophobic academics, and the ultimate unraveling of it all was such a treat to read.
Obvious comparisons have been made between this novel and other dark academia titans like The Secret History. I agree with those comparisons—if you like the standard favorites in the genre, then this novel is likely going to work for you. But I'd like to expand that filter a bit. If you're interested in magic and its weavings throughout our actual history, if you're interested in tarot, if you're interested in the study of the arcane in any way... this novel will likely work for you also.
Looking forward to more novels from this author!
Blog | Instagram | Libro.fm Audiobooks
February 16, 2023
If you're looking for a book with some beautiful descriptive writing, pick this up, it's incredible for that. Especially when it comes to The Cloisters itself, the prose works almost like a love letter to the place, detailed and atmospheric.
On the other hand, if you're trying to find the novel promised in the tag lines and the blurb, look elsewhere. This is not it. What The Secret History and Ninth House both do well is offer you a sense of place plus a blindingly gripping plot and/or set of characters. This has neither of those. Everything was flat and drawn out, with little significant happening until the over the top twist at the end. Nothing worked as it should and the characters were not engaging enough to make you care about their issues anyway.
A disappointing read for one that was so proficient descriptively.
ARC via Netgalley
On the other hand, if you're trying to find the novel promised in the tag lines and the blurb, look elsewhere. This is not it. What The Secret History and Ninth House both do well is offer you a sense of place plus a blindingly gripping plot and/or set of characters. This has neither of those. Everything was flat and drawn out, with little significant happening until the over the top twist at the end. Nothing worked as it should and the characters were not engaging enough to make you care about their issues anyway.
A disappointing read for one that was so proficient descriptively.
ARC via Netgalley
June 30, 2022
WOW THIS COVER IS EVERYTHING! Thank you to Katy Hays and Atria Books for my stunning copy! The Cloisters is about Ann, a woman who goes to New York to work at MOMA. She gets assigned to The Cloisters, which is a gothic museum and garden full of medieval art. She is tasked with working with researchers, and starts to learn about fortune telling as they uncover a mysterious deck of cards. What seems like an innocent piece of history quickly becomes a dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition.
Thoughts: This is not my normal genre, and is billed as being Ninth House meets The Secret History. It was for sure a dark academic book full of mystery and magical realism. It reminded me of Mexican Gothic and was about female friendship and a dark and disturbing history. This was NOT a thriller, and was rather slow at times. There were some good points made about women in academia and the choices we make. 4-stars
Thoughts: This is not my normal genre, and is billed as being Ninth House meets The Secret History. It was for sure a dark academic book full of mystery and magical realism. It reminded me of Mexican Gothic and was about female friendship and a dark and disturbing history. This was NOT a thriller, and was rather slow at times. There were some good points made about women in academia and the choices we make. 4-stars
November 7, 2022
There was so much I liked about this book, the Cloisters setting being paramount. Katy Hays did a fantastic job capturing the feel of the place, which oozes atmosphere from the moment one enters the property, and I felt her descriptions of NYC and other environs were accurate. I loved the historical references and fell under a spell whenever certain objects (a ring, a painting, tarot cards) were described.
What didn't work so well for me were the characters. They were mostly unlikable, and I think I found them to be this way because I didn't understand the motives behind their actions. Our MC, Ann, is a small-town girl and easily manipulated. For me, this manipulation overshadowed her potential, and by the time she woke up to her surroundings, it was too late for me as a reader.
I'm interested to see what MS. Hays writes next and will definitely give it a go.
What didn't work so well for me were the characters. They were mostly unlikable, and I think I found them to be this way because I didn't understand the motives behind their actions. Our MC, Ann, is a small-town girl and easily manipulated. For me, this manipulation overshadowed her potential, and by the time she woke up to her surroundings, it was too late for me as a reader.
I'm interested to see what MS. Hays writes next and will definitely give it a go.
February 19, 2024
3.5
Bardzo wolno rozkręcająca się książka z gatunku bardziej spokojniejszych, ale jak już zaczęło się coś dziać to wow.
Powiedziałabym, że ta książka to połączenie sztuki, wielkiego miasta, wróżbiarstwa, historii z kryminałem
Bardzo wolno rozkręcająca się książka z gatunku bardziej spokojniejszych, ale jak już zaczęło się coś dziać to wow.
Powiedziałabym, że ta książka to połączenie sztuki, wielkiego miasta, wróżbiarstwa, historii z kryminałem
July 10, 2023
Nah.
What it comes down to is that I found this book extremely unpleasant. And also dull. And reading it made me feel like I would rather be banging my head against something very solid. This was made even more frustrating by glimmers of stuff I probably would have found very intriguing in another author's hands, or in another type of story altogether.
The Cloisters is about a woman whose name I have long forgotten who is heading to her first post-graduate job, supposedly at the Met in NYC but when she gets there, they inform her there are no spots. By COINCIDENCE a man named Patrick (that one stuck I guess?) who works in the Cloisters (an actual offshoot of the Met) and offers her a job there instead. At the Cloisters, she gets caught up in a toxic mean girl relationship with her beautiful and charming coworker, a coworker who is sleeping with the boss and the gardener, who the MC also starts sleeping with. Then Patrick ends up dead. Also, there are some weird tarot card readings in here that barely signify anything, but apparently were enough to get the publishers to market this as fantasy???
Anyway, it's just about toxic, boring people who do terrible things, my least favorite genre of story. I don't really recommend this one, but I guess if you like toxic people doing terrible (and boring) things you might enjoy it!
What it comes down to is that I found this book extremely unpleasant. And also dull. And reading it made me feel like I would rather be banging my head against something very solid. This was made even more frustrating by glimmers of stuff I probably would have found very intriguing in another author's hands, or in another type of story altogether.
The Cloisters is about a woman whose name I have long forgotten who is heading to her first post-graduate job, supposedly at the Met in NYC but when she gets there, they inform her there are no spots. By COINCIDENCE a man named Patrick (that one stuck I guess?) who works in the Cloisters (an actual offshoot of the Met) and offers her a job there instead. At the Cloisters, she gets caught up in a toxic mean girl relationship with her beautiful and charming coworker, a coworker who is sleeping with the boss and the gardener, who the MC also starts sleeping with. Then Patrick ends up dead. Also, there are some weird tarot card readings in here that barely signify anything, but apparently were enough to get the publishers to market this as fantasy???
Anyway, it's just about toxic, boring people who do terrible things, my least favorite genre of story. I don't really recommend this one, but I guess if you like toxic people doing terrible (and boring) things you might enjoy it!
November 19, 2022
More of a workplace drama than it was a mystical jaunt.
Let me be very clear, this book had everything going for it. Interesting premise, dope cover, the promise of magic. And yet, when push came to shove, anything interesting about it was moved aside like the author was told dark academia was hot.
So the premise, the magic, even the McGuffin(which the book is about/isn't about) gets left behind in the first 50 pages so that we can have a book that drags its feet telling you it's actually a murder mystery.
That's right folks, this book isn't about magic tarot cards, it's not about a particularly mystic museum. No. It's about a murder, and the truly bonkers motive for it.
Did I want to like this book? Yeah hell yeah.
Did I like this book? No, absolutely not. Honestly, it doesn't deserve 2 stars, but man that cover rules.
Let me be very clear, this book had everything going for it. Interesting premise, dope cover, the promise of magic. And yet, when push came to shove, anything interesting about it was moved aside like the author was told dark academia was hot.
So the premise, the magic, even the McGuffin(which the book is about/isn't about) gets left behind in the first 50 pages so that we can have a book that drags its feet telling you it's actually a murder mystery.
That's right folks, this book isn't about magic tarot cards, it's not about a particularly mystic museum. No. It's about a murder, and the truly bonkers motive for it.
Did I want to like this book? Yeah hell yeah.
Did I like this book? No, absolutely not. Honestly, it doesn't deserve 2 stars, but man that cover rules.
August 2, 2023
Insufferable pretentious sewage masquerading as a book. Pointless, boring and repetitive rambling drivel that my brain may never recover from.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 8,305 reviews