Name: The Cloisters
ISBN: 9781668004401

Katy Hays

The Secret History meets Ninth House in this sinister, atmospheric novel following a circle of researchers as they uncover a mysterious deck of tarot cards and shocking secrets in New York’s famed Met Cloisters. When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects 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 medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination. Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs. A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

A Novel

The Cloisters

It was coming from within me as well, a darkness I saw echoed in the saints’ fingerbones and ankle fragments, the wilderness of the unicorn tapestries and the open mouths of the gargoyles that sat along the edges of the cloisters. The whole museum, I realized—although perhaps I had always known it, always wanted to believe it—was struggling to come alive.

These were the caprices that the ancient Romans tried to rationalize with their philosophies and gods, but deep down, they knew the truth: fate was as brutal as it was providential.

Isabelle

What if our whole life - how we live and die - has already been decided for us? Would you want to know, if a role of the dice or a deal of the cards could tell you the outcome? Can life be that thin, that disturbing? What if we're all just like Caesar? Waiting on our lucky throw, refusing to see what waits for us in the idea of March. 

We are, you see, both masters of our fate and at the mercy of the Moirai - the three Fates who weave our futures and cut them short. And while I still believe we can control the little things in life, those small decisions that add up to the everyday, I think, perhaps, the overall shape of our life is not ours to decide. That shape belongs to fate. 

The Cloisters is an amazingly well written book with amazing plot and accurate information. The detail in the history and usage of Tarot was very interesting and added a lot to the plot, without taking your attention away to much or making it an academic article. 

The story itself was beautiful as well. The characters were very loveable/accessible(iykwim) and the story moved at just the right pace. While it is a (murder) mystery novel, it had an informative side as well, which I adore and makes it a good book for anyone who loves academia books with a tad of mystery (like If We Were Villains for example) 

The Cloisters is an amazingly well written book with amazing plot and accurate information. The detail in the history and usage of Tarot was very interesting and added a lot to the plot, without taking your attention away to much or making it an academic article. 

The story itself was beautiful as well. The characters were very loveable/accessible(iykwim) and the story moved at just the right pace. While it is a (murder) mystery novel, it had an informative side as well, which I adore and makes it a good book for anyone who loves academia books with a tad of mystery (like If We Were Villains for example) 

Would definitely recommend. 

This really hit the dark academia/history spot! The book left me with a lot to think about fate.. also, the Cloisters look Exactly how I imagined them 

Lili

I really enjoyed this book! I've visited The Cloisters once before, and the descriptions were phenomenal! I also love how the book balanced the descriptive aspects with the plot!

maitha mana

I enjoyed the setting of the gothic art museum, and the description of collectibles and antiques (which were scarce throughout the book), but I couldn't stand the dialogue and the love triangle, it felt too young adult for me. The book definitely had potential, if the author gave it more mystery and depth; instead it felt watered out through unnecessary bits.

Loved it, scratched that dark academia itch I've had but man does this museum need a better HR department 

Victoria 

Good dark academy novel set during a hot summer in a New York museum. Ancient tarot decks, italian Renaissance and twisted friendship are part of the game. 

Barbara

Melissa Palmer

Good gothic mystery. Lots of twists and turns and a cool creepy setting of a museum. I recommend it.

This book was such a disappointment and exhibit 352 in my collection of examples why dark academia is actually difficult to write. Some brief notes on what did not work in the novel and why I ultimately found it such a bore and sludge to get through:

- The book could have been way more atmospheric and sensory. We are talking both about New York's oppressive, heavy summer heat and the Met Cloisters - a place that feels both out of time and place with the rest of the city. That is the kind of setting that could truly become its own character.

- Rachel was meant to be enticing and intriguing in a way that near enchants Ann to allow her later to be 

enchanted but to also push her down a spiral of her own moral unmaking. Except Rachel really... was not. And neither was Patrick. Nor Leo. But the book particularly suffers from Rachel's lack of charm.

- This also applies to the subject matter. I believe a lot of the genre relies on an overwhelming obsessions - with knowledge, with an idea grander than ourselves. It really is a morbid longing for a picturesque of sorts. I wanted to feel Ann's and Rachel's and Patrick's desperation to make the discovery that will prove their theory, to make it into the world of academia, to achieve the success they have sought. I wanted to feel how frantic something like this could make someone, how it could drive them to the brink of sanity. But it felt no more interesting and satisfying than organising perfectly your spreadsheet of data. 

- Tarot was the perfect opportunity to blur the lines between mysticism and reality and play a very strong fabulist element - but it was never taken far enough. By the end it seemed like Ann believed in it but as the reader, expriencing the story through her first-person narration, I was never convinced and I never questioned that we were firmly grounded in reality. Why would you have all the elements predisposing to a great novel and make it so, so mundane?

- Moral ambiguity was introduced in Ann but was it, though? Did it give her any depth or complexity?

Cool topic, though - something a little different and Hays could have done so much more with it and with her background in the field.

This book was such a disappointment and exhibit 352 in my collection of examples why dark academia is actually difficult to write. Some brief notes on what did not work in the novel and why I ultimately found it such a bore and sludge to get through:

- The book could have been way more atmospheric and sensory. We are talking both about New York's oppressive, heavy summer heat and the Met Cloisters - a place that feels both out of time and place with the rest of the city. That is the kind of setting that could truly become its own character.

- Rachel was meant to be enticing and intriguing in a way that near enchants Ann to allow her later to be disenchanted but to also push her down a spiral of her own moral unmaking. Except Rachel really... was not. And neither was Patrick. Nor Leo. But the book particularly suffers from Rachel's lack of charm.

- This also applies to the subject matter. I believe a lot of the genre relies on an overwhelming obsessions - with knowledge, with an idea grander than ourselves. It really is a morbid longing for a picturesque of sorts. I wanted to feel Ann's and Rachel's and Patrick's desperation to make the discovery that will prove their theory, to make it into the world of academia, to achieve the success they have sought. I wanted to feel how frantic something like this could make someone, how it could drive them to the brink of sanity. But it felt no more interesting and satisfying than organising perfectly your spreadsheet of data. 

- Tarot was the perfect opportunity to blur the lines between mysticism and reality and play a very strong fabulist element - but it was never taken far enough. By the end it seemed like Ann believed in it but as the reader, expriencing the story through her first-person narration, I was never convinced and I never questioned that we were firmly grounded in reality. Why would you have all the elements predisposing to a great novel and make it so, so mundane?

- Moral ambiguity was introduced in Ann but was it, though? Did it give her any depth or complexity?

Cool topic, though - something a little different and Hays could have done so much more with it and with her background in the field.

shellybn

Compelling and Intriguing

The Cloisters itself is a character as much as any of the people in this story. The setting and atmosphere come alive to readers in ways that are rarely seen. You do not need to know anything about tarot to enjoy the mystery. The book also shows the dark, cutthroat world of academia that most people like to pretend does not exist. Highly recommended!

marie

опис, який обіцяв «the secret history meets ninth house»… be so ffr right now… 

чому мене бісить ця книга:

-персонажі (яких там 3,5) без особистостей;
-протагоністка, яка потерпає від синдрому not like the other girls;
-висмоктана з пальця еротична напруга між протагоністкою і челіком (садівник-панк-бед бой-антикапіталіст??);
-замість того, щоб показувати читачу світ очима протагоністки і через її вчинки розкривати її внутрішні конфлікти/переживання/мотивації, авторка просто буквально пояснює все (деколи по декілька разів);
-авторка подумала, що якщо це дарк академія, персонажі мають розмовляти між собою так ніби вони декламують наукові статті;
-як можна було взяти такий цікавий сеттінг і так все пересрати??

чому я вдячна цій книзі:
-ще більше ціную майстерно написані твори, які мені пощастило прочитати;
-слово cloisters дуже смішне, і воно зустрічається в романі ледь не на кожній сторінці :‘)

As an art lover, and someone who has been there, I was hooked when I saw the cover and title.

As a European, who went to NYC to do an internship and had a hookup with a coworker, some things overlapped.

I however took the fullest chance to experience the city, the food, the museums, the musicals. Where as Ann is essentially a hermit at work.

The historical and art elements were really good, I thought the plot would focus on more of the art in stead of the tarot cards, although I think she wrote well about it. The book didn’t have that many twists or surprises but it was a nice read.

TW - emotional abuse and manipulation, death, inappropriate age gaps in dating.

Suzanne

As an art lover, and someone who has been there, I was hooked when I saw the cover and title.

As a European, who went to NYC to do an internship and had a hookup with a coworker, some things overlapped.

I however took the fullest chance to experience the city, the food, the museums, the musicals. Where as Ann is essentially a hermit at work.

The historical and art elements were really good, I thought the plot would focus on more of the art in stead of the tarot cards, although I think she wrote well about it. The book didn’t have that many twists or surprises but it was a nice read.

TW - emotional abuse and manipulation, death, inappropriate age gaps in dating.

I went into this thinking it would be like Ninth House with secret societies and dark academia vibes, but that wasn't the case. The pacing was slow, and none of the characters were unlikable, so it was difficult for me to feel invested in what was happening. The writing felt repetitive (I don't think the main character could go one chapter without mentioning she was from Walla Walla), pretentious, and info-dumpy. The mystery aspect was interesting, but I wanted a bit more from it. There was also a romance that felt unnecessary and did nothing to move the plot along. I did like the setting of the Cloisters and the atmosphere it added, and there was a lot of potential here, but the execution was lacking.

The Cloisters A Novel

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