I was definitely drawn in by the cover of this book. So glad I did because this is a little gem of a debut novel from Katy Hays.

I've dabbled a little with reading tarot cards so I had an instant connection to the story. Tarot cards are the main subject of the plot but it's not tarot heavy. There is plenty of mystery and twists to keep you gripped in the story.

I found the writing to be atmospheric with gothicy vibes. The Cloisters felt dark and claustrophobic at times. I quite liked the characters and found them to be well crafted.

This is a strong debut novel and definitely an author I will be watching out for in the future.

I loved this dark and compelling story. It built up slowly , adding depth as it went along. The details of divination and tarot cards was particularly engrossing.

I think this debut would have got 5 stars from me if it hadn't been compared so much in the hype around it to The Secret History as any novel would have a hard time living up to this claim. I was drawn into the shadowy, atmospheric world of The Cloisters, the niave protagonist was well drawn even if it felt obvious, as a reader, where it was all heading and I felt compelled to keep reading to see how it would all end... I think this will be a hit even if it didn't quite live up to the hype for me.

This is a slow burning mystery set in a beautiful museum in Manhattan. Ann finds herself working at The Cloisters for the summer, helping a small team put together an exhibition on divination and the occult practices of fortune telling. The Cloisters is a wonderful space, filled with the most amazing artif\cts, and the gardens are kept beautifully manicured by a charming gardener who Ann finds herself drawn to on the sultry summer days. But she soon realises that there is more going on at the museum than meets the eye. An engrossing mystery with Gothic undertones and tons of atmosphere.

The story of an impressionable young academic who is made all the more vulnerable while she grieves the unexpected death of her father.

Ann enters the rat race of academia when she is positioned at the The Cloisters Met Gallery, New York as a summer associate. Here, she is swept up in the mystery and intrigue of the history of the tarot as she helps prepare an exhibition which is hoped to uncover the use of this ancient art dating back to the 15th century. Ann cannot help but be drawn to the hope of prophesy in the tarot, for if all our destinies are already written, maybe we can relinquish our guilt and grief as we have no control anyway? However, is it destiny, coincidence or opportunism she faces at The Cloisters? Ann is entangled in a web of toxic relationships as the story unfolds a plot with characters determined to exploit each other with no care of the consequences in order to get ahead in life.

I didn’t like a single character but it speaks volumes when a story has such unloveable characters yet you can’t put the book down. I would have been interested to find out more about the history of the tarot but, that would have probably messed with the pace, which was on point for a page turner. There is a glossary of the tarot cards at the end of the book for readers who want to find out more.

I was ready to delve into a complicated dark academia but the flippant tone of the characters made for lighter reading than I expected and it was a fun read. The beautiful imagery of The Cloisters was stunning and so it is obvs now on my bucket list to see. I’d recommend this for anyone in the mood for a mystery thriller in a dark academia setting with menacing and gothic undertones.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse
for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

Started off a bit of a slow burn but it definitely ramped up!

When Ann moves from small town Washington to New York and begins work at the prestigious Closters, she is eager to please. Looking to ingratiate herself with her charismatic boss Patrick and the rather glamorous Rachel she pushes her own boundaries to fit in. How far is she willing to go?

I found the tarot cards and medicinal plants aspects of the story really interesting and enjoyed learning more about both.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Ann but I did really like the character of Leo the gardener.

The descriptions of the Cloisters were richly detailed and brought the building, collections and atmosphere of the museum to life. It was another character in itself.

As an archivist, I really enjoyed the sections in collections and one line really hit the nail on the head - “that was the reality of an archive - they were always incomplete despite their depth, made up as they were of fragments” the author has really done her homework!

I did guess a couple of the twists but nonetheless I really enjoyed this most atmospheric read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy

The Cloisters
by Katy Hays

When I heard this book was a comp with The Secret History I had to peek. Although many are compared, few are actually worthy of the comparison, but I will always still read them, because dark academia, sinister and atmospheric, insights into the thought processes of truly unlikeable characters, don't ask me why and what it says about me, but it's my dirty little secret.

Set in the world of early Renaissance art research based in the Met Cloisters, NYC this is the story of a summer internship which turns into a deadly game of control. Ann is dazzled by the enigmatic curator and his gorgeous, wealthy, self-assured assistant. As she becomes drawn into their clique she discovers secrets, hidden agendas and unbridled ambition.

The mood is so full of tension, the need for approval, the awareness of the glamour of others, sexual tension, the oppressive heat of the summer. I love the gothic setting, the lush descriptions of the various cloister gardens, the archways and dark hallways. It's always such a buzz to read about places I have previously visited, so I was thrilled to find references to the Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrera and the d'Este family. I also find the whole tarot theme intriguing, all the ways our predecessors turned for knowledge and guidance and how that symbolism has pervaded and endured.

But for me what makes this particular story so powerful are the toxic relationships, the grooming, the unspoken rewards for loyalty and the partly veiled threats of exclusion, the seesaw of balance. I love everything about this story and when I'm asked for The Secret History read-alikes in future I will be highly recommending this one.

Publication date: 19th January 2023
Thanks to #netgalley and #randomhouseuk for the egalley

Is it fate, coincidence or design that brings Ann Stilwell to The Cloisters? Escaping from her small town existence and with a desire to immerse herself in academia she becomes involved with Patrick, Rachel and Leo who all have their own agendas. How their relationships overlap amidst this atmospheric setting is fascinating. The history of tarot cards is interesting but is not overplayed. There is explanation of the cards at the end of the book if that is of interest to readers but does impede the story. The balance between academia, gothic and mystery are well balanced. Look forward to reading more by this author.
Many thanks Netgalley/Katy Hays/Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

When Ann takes a job at The Cloisters museum n New York, she has no idea this will become so much bigger and more dangerous than a job working in a museum or art gallery should be.

With her manager Patrick, colleague and friend Rachel and love interest Leo, they are all drawn into a deadly circle which revolves around one of their group and the search for a rare set of tarot cards that change their fate forever

An engrossing read, particularly if you have an interest in art history, tarot, languages, etymology and academia. I've seen this compared to The Secret History, but I enjoyed The Cloisters more!

I was sure I was going to love this book then the main character talks about her major in Early Renaissance that she chose because there was not giant like Leonardo or Michelangelo, Raffaello missing in action.
Nobody cares about Early Renaissance because there's nothing new to investigate. It was very informative as i discovered that Piero della Francesca, , Antonello da Messina and Carpaccio weren't giants and everything was already discovered about their art.
I do remember some discussions about the symbolism in The Flagellation and The Brera Madonna. i also knew that Piero and the others were considered giants but maybe I'm wrong and Early Renassaince is a different historical time.
That said I wasn't the biggest fan of Ann as I found her a bit passive, Early Renaissance masters apart.
I found the part about the Cloisters and the Tarots interesting.
It's very slow paced, it takes quite a long time before things start moving and a lot happens in the last part.
I think I hated most of the characters and found the relationships toxic.
That said I think that the author is a good storyteller and delivered a story that kept me hooked even if I felt that “del vino attoscato” would have improved the characters.
It's a book that requires to be patient and not expect a gothic-dark-academia-etc. It's a mix of elements and not easy to define.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I have been waiting to read The Cloisters ever since it was first announced - and it exceeded my every expectation. The work place drama, the historical mystery, the incredible sense of place - I felt absolutely transported to the museum and stifling NYC in the summer every time I turned a page. I've already been recommending this to my friends and will continue to shout about it - brava to the author!

I really enjoyed this. A layered gothic mystery with some fascinating well-realised characters. Beautifully written and thought provoking. I would read more by this author.

Ann lands a summer job at the prestigious New York museum working alongside curator Patrick and the young, rich and beautiful Rachel.

The pair soon bring Ann into the world of tarot card reading and that’s when things begin to spiral out of control. What follows is a dark, mystery in which suspicions fall on every member of The Cloisters.

This book has been compared to The Secret History which was why I was keen to read it but aside from the prologue chapter there are no real similarities at all so if you’re reading for a Donna Tartt fix you’ll likely be disappointed.

The Cloisters is very slow, and there’s lots of academic details and ancient words that I just didn’t understand and found myself skimming over - i’m sure tarot and ancient world enthusiasts will like it but it felt quite alienating to the ordinary reader.

This isn’t a bad book at all, but I just felt that it was trying to do too much and be too many things, that often the main mystery at its core got lost.

Absolutely adored this book! The writing is beautiful and enticing drawing you into the world of The Cloisters. Definitely a dark academia feel obsession and pursuit of knowledge as well as the occult being major themes. I found all the characters fascinating and loved how they all fit together and changed over the course of the book. The ending was brilliant and felt like the only way the story could have finished. So excited to read more books by Katy Hays!

Ann Stilwell has just graduated and arrived in New York to take up an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. But when she arrives, she discovers to her shock that the man who offered it to her has gone on holiday and they no longer have a place for her.
But then fate takes a hand as Patrick Roland, passing by in the corridor ,announces that he has a place for her at the Cloisters, another prestigious New York Museum. There is no way that Ann is going back to Walla Walla in Washington with her tail between her legs and so she accepts. She soon meets Rachel Mongrey with whom she will be working. It won’t be long before Ann falls in love with the Cloisters, an ancient building that resembles a monastery with fragments from medieval abbeys and priories tacked on that were imported during the 1930s.
Ann is an outsider in this new world and knows it but has ambitions to work in academia. She has squeaky shoes, still carries a backpack and wears slacks. But she has talents: for example, she can speak 7 languages ‘including 3 dead ones.’ as her 1st person narrative says somewhat deprecatingly. It was her father who taught her the languages from scraps of paper found in wastebins at the college where he was a janitor. He was killed in a hit and run and after that Ann became determined to leave the small town despite her mother trying to persuade her not to. And despite living in a small sublet apartment with no air conditioner and riding the subway in the heat of the city, it isn’t long before the Cloisters begins to weave her into them. Rachel and Ann strike up a friendship despite being opposites. Rachel is beautiful, an orphan and from a privileged background.
Leo, the gardener, tends the poisonous plants in the museum’s gardens. In medieval times some of them were considered medicinal. He plays in a punk band and writes plays outside work and he and Ann strike up a relationship of sorts.
Patrick and Rachel are looking for a particular set of Italian Tarot cards from the 15th century to prove their theory that these cards were originally used for divination and that was their original purpose. Ann becomes part of it when she demonstrates her skills at reading the cards one night when they are all together. And her talents at translating ancient languages come to the fore when she steals a Tarot card with a message attached while out with Patrick at a high end antiques dealer.
Meanwhile Ann meets an old college friend, Laure, who advises her to be careful around Rachel as does a speaker at a conference she attends. Laure actually says ‘Death clings to Rachel’ as she reveals that, at Yale, Rachel’s room mate either fell or jumped from a window. But Ann has been seduced by Rachel’s friendship, the Cloisters itself and the lure of the Tarot. What is it trying to tell her? Is it a warning? And as the summer wears on, the cards foretell that one person has no future and like a house of cards, all of their lives will come crashing down. Except for one.
This was a book that reminded me very much of ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt and also ‘Gone Girl.’ Dark academia is a genre new to me and it wasn’t long before I was sensing that there were dark undercurrents seething beneath the Cloisters respectability. Clandestine goings-on with a black market in stolen artifacts from the museum to eager discreet buyers. Ambition to climb the next rung of the ladder by any means necessary to make your name.
Ann was not the innocent she appears despite being part of the triangle with Patrick and Rachel. She snoops and pries and both she and Rachel realise that they will get little credit for their research. It will be ultimately seen as Patrick’s work. The pace of the book was quite slow at times but in the final third as the revelations came thick and fast I couldn’t turn the pages quickly enough. The author had done her research on the Tarot thoroughly. This covered its origins and uses. After all it’s not called the Devil’s picture book for nothing. These sections were fascinating for me although they might not be for another reader. The dark side of academia was also well portrayed with the politics and backstabbing to achieving your next post.
This is a debut novel from an author who has worked within New York museums and it shows in her recreation of this world. The tourists and visitors who walk through the building and then onto the next one, the poisonous plants in the gardens, and the staff in their offices working away.
There was an emphasis on Ann’s less than glamorous life in New York before Rachel takes her in. She exists on its margins until she enters Rachel’s world. Despite her mother’s entreaties and her guilt over her father’s death, Ann is determined never to return to Walla Walla. With her language skills, she had a way out.
There was a lot I liked about The Cloisters. It was very atmospheric and there was a dark, almost Gothic feel about it. The shadowy building, the ancient artifacts, the strange Tarot sessions at night and how Ann interprets the cards created a real mood to the book. However I was surprised that Ann didn’t notice the relationship between Rachel and Leo or perhaps she didn’t want to. The characters felt a little cold to me with their scheming, steely determination and ambition above all.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

Firstly, the cover! I was also lucky enough to have a paperback proof copy and the cover is incredible!
You can tell how much research has gone into The Cloisters - a gothic thriller, full of depth and history. The Cloisters has a very dark storyline, focusing around friendship, mysterious relationships, luck, mysticism, fate, and romance too. A fascinating read about academia and tarot cards, full of intrigue.

The Cloisters is beautifully written and full of suspense. Magnificent setting, based at a gothic museum - The Cloisters in New York. The surroundings, the sounds, the smells all felt so real. I felt part of the book, the descriptions of the atmosphere were superb. I now want to go to The Cloisters and the gardens! I was fully immersed in the book and invested in the characters. So many dimensions to all the characters, multi-faceted and fascinating.

The Cloisters is a book that totally absorbed me and took me on an amazing journey with lots of twists and turns!

Thank you very much for my advanced copy. This review is based on a NetGalley ARC provided in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

Must admit that I approached this book knowing nothing about it, although the book comes with a high degree of provenance, as author Hays has a background of working in real museums and with art. It certainly shows in the elements that infuse this book. This is an author who gives the impression that her characters know what they’re talking about, whether it be Tarot cards or Renaissance artifacts.

The setting is wonderful. The Cloisters – whether real or not, I didn’t know – gave a real feeling of a safe haven in the middle of New York City in the Summer. The book begins in July and ends in September with all of the sweltering conditions and noise that this busy metropolis seems to offer. By contrast, The Cloisters are quiet, serene, and filled with quiet alcoves and shady retreats that must be a balm for anyone uncomfortable with the climate or the noise.

It is certainly something that our main character, Ann Stillwell seems to appreciate. Coming from the remote backwater of Walla Walla, she soon revels in the wealth of material and the atmosphere therein. Hays tells this story from her perspective, a person in need of escape from her troubled family background, who is desperately keen to make a new and fresh start in New York, working in an area of expertise that she loves. Ann is someone who doesn’t makes friends easily, nor does she usually make much of an impression. In fact, at the beginning of the story she is on the verge of being told that, despite expectations, there is not a Summer position for her at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Luckily for her she is taken under the wing of Patrick Roland, the curator of The Cloisters, although the reasons for this are initially unclear. Ann leaps at the chance to work at The Cloisters for not only is it a job opportunity, albeit just for the Summer, but also that The Cloisters is a museum quietly famous for its medieval and Renaissance collections, Ann’s area of expertise.

At the Cloisters Ann meets the outwardly confident Rachel, who seems to be the opposite of Ann in most things – personality, status and wealth. Working together, Ann finds herself desperate for Rachael’s attention but also to emulate her wealthy lifestyle. We come to realise that this means that the story then becomes not just a story of “What Ann did next”, but also a story about ambition, social climbing and power games, especially when Ann realises how the other people around her interact. It seems that Patrick and Rachel have a thing going – or have had in the past – but also Ann finds herself attracted to Leo, the Cloister’s full-time gardener, responsible for producing ancient herbs, plants and poisons at the Cloisters.

The plot thickens when Ann discovers a deck of 15th century Tarot cards that seem to suggest that during the Renaissance Tarot divination was much more important than has previously been proved. Like others around her she begins to question their power – can the cards define her own future? Are they steering events towards something that is not happenstance but ordained? Or is it just coincidence?

The development of these complicated relationships and the toxic friendships that may result are much of the middle part of this novel. The last part of the book becomes a murder-mystery when a death at the Cloisters puts all of them and their complicated histories under suspicion. One of them just might be a murderer – but why? And how?

Whilst there are elements that seem to be remarkably convenient or coincidental for convenience, it must be said that these didn’t detract too much from the overall  feel of the novel. I did find plot points were left unresolved, though – this is not a story for those who like tidy endings. Most of all, at the end I was left wondering whether what was told was entirely true. The Cloisters does work on that aspect of “unreliable narrator” quite well.

The importance of the Tarot cards is also intriguing, as the reader is left to decide whether they shape our destinies, can be used to determine future actions or are simply a relic from an ancient age. It is perhaps this occult aspect of the story that genre readers may appreciate most, although in the end it is less important than it may at first appear to be. Like a lot of things in this novel, things are rarely what they seem to be.

This also applies to the characters.  I think it would be fair to say that I can see that some readers may find them unappealing, even unpleasant, and yet at the same time they have a draw that is undeniable. As the story progresses, the point of interest seems to be whether Ann is drawn into their world or whether she is an instigator of events, something the reader is left pondering up to the end. And it is this aspect of toxic relationships that kept me reading until the end. It all felt rather Hitchcock-ian at the end, which is no bad thing in my book.

In short, The Cloisters is a modern book set in an ancient setting for a literate and informed  readership who relish moral ambiguity and complexity. It reads very well and kept me guessing to the end.  The Cloisters lures you in, with its talk of books, ancient artifacts and shady nooks and keeps you reading until you can’t put it down. Not my usual kind of reading perhaps, but I’m glad I did. This is what Peng Shepherd’s The Cartographers should have been like, but sadly wasn’t.

A dark academia turns murder mystery of a read. It was the blurb for this that originally caught my attention, as it sounded very to my taste. However, I did find myself skimming parts of it and I put it down more than once just to come up for air.
Elements of the story were also very predictable; I knew what was coming a fair bit of the time. Occasionally it felt like I was receiving a lecture, rather than trying to immerse myself in a story. I did find the characters very stereo-typical, it essentially felt like a lined up “Cluedo” bored but they were still engaging enough that I finished the book.
That all said it was a perfectly fine read. Elements of it are done well, and while predictable the story was engaging enough to hold my attention.
For me it was a not terrible but also not great read.

DNF

I expected more earlier than the book gave me. The character felt a little flat and not much happened in the pages I’d read. The prologue was good but after that it flopped.

I really wanted to like this but it took too long to get to anything remotely interesting and creepy.

Well, unfortunately this one was a disappointment. I am a sucker for dark academia so this book seems the right one for me. But there is not much dark academia here and even less mystery. And it is sooo slow.

The main character, Ann, has absolutely no personality and I wonder what the illusive circle of people saw in her. Patrick, the curator of The Cloisters is researching ancient divination. That sounds interesting but unfortunately we here not much about it. It’s the same with Tarot. It seems to me that those topics are thrown in to make the blurb interesting but the story is more about toxic friendships and who is sleeping with whom. The story itself makes no sense to me and I am not sure if I understand what they were really looking for (and lost interest in finding out). The occult, art and tarot are only dealt superficially with. If you are drawn to this book because you are interested in those things, you will be disappointed.

Beside the lack of story and uninteresting characters, the book is just boring and slow. There is no mystery, no sinister atmosphere or even suspense. There is not even a surprise at the end. Honestly, this was a waste of time.