The Cloisters
A Novel
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick
This instant New York Times bestseller that is “captivating in every sense of the word” (Sarah Pearse, New York Times bestselling author) follows a group of researchers uncovering 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 she 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 “masterwork of literary suspense that surges to an otherworldly conclusion” (Mark Prins, author of The Latinist).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A young woman finds herself caught up in intrigue at a New York City museum in this enveloping mystery. Recent college grad Ann Stilwell is working as a summer intern at Manhattan’s famed museum the Cloisters, searching for evidence that the tarot was used as for divination during the Renaissance. At work, three people are vying for Ann’s attention: Patrick, the mercurial and intense curator of an upcoming exhibit; Rachel, a charismatic and almost too-friendly fellow intern who’s also Patrick’s lover; and Leo, the attractive but slightly sketchy gardener who tends the Cloisters’ beds of poisonous plants. When Ann unexpectedly finds the evidence she’s seeking, someone turns up dead, and she must determine whom she can trust. Ann is a young woman who strives to be tough, pragmatic, and self-sufficient no matter what. You’ll really get how Ann’s quest for emotional support and a secure future might be blinding her to warning signs that the people in her life aren’t as well-intentioned as she thinks.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hays debuts with a moody and suspenseful story of a floundering art history graduate. Though Ann Stillwell has been unsuccessful in pursuing a grad school offer, she nevertheless lands a coveted summer internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—but upon arrival, she learns the offer has been rescinded. Ann then hears of a vacancy at the Cloisters, where she joins the beautiful and supremely competent Rachel Mondray in assisting head curator Patrick Roland on a research project related to the tarot, which, according to Patrick's hypothesis, has much older ties to the occult than scholars had previously assumed. Ann is dazzled by Rachel's wealth, and a quick, intense friendship develops as she is drawn into the research, though she's increasingly unnerved by Patrick's fervor and seeming belief in the occult. Hays carefully leaves the supernatural elements open to interpretation, and Ann's summer is ultimately shaped by a tragedy with a traceably human cause. Readers will be fascinated by the evocative setting as well as the behind-the-scenes glimpses into museum curatorship and the cutthroat games of academia. It makes for an accomplished debut.
Customer Reviews
Love Dark Academia
The Cloisters is about a 25 year old named Ann Stilwell who essentially ran away from home due to the grief that plagues her after her father’s death. She ends up in New York City, with a curatorial job at the MET. When she arrives, the job she was originally signed up to work fell through. By happenstance, another faculty staff member is in need of summer help, and Ann agrees to sign on right away. Her new job will no longer be at the MET, but at the Cloisters which is a medieval / Renaissance time period art museum. The area of her work seems to touch upon some work that her mentor had been working on, so naturally it seemed that Ann was a good fit. The sexual tension flows through the Cloisters, with Ann having her eyes on Patrick (the staff member she’ll be working for), his assistant Rachel, and the garden groundskeeper Leo. The book follows Ann and her adventure through the hallways of the Cloisters. Will they be able to find evidence of what Patrick is looking for and believes to be hidden somewhere in history? Is everything even as it seems?!?
I picked this book up based on the summary alone. Because I love me some dark academia - especially when it surrounds topics of ancient texts & tarot. However, the opening of the book was quite predicable, at first. I mean, an older professor who was attractive and fatherly who also blurs lines of appropriateness and power. A weak female lead who tries to emulate the cool girl who may have a thing going on with that sexy professor? A bunch of sexual tension just burning through all of them, or was Ann imagining all of it?? Talk about a snooze fest!
I was even able to guess who was going to end up being a psychopath. (I swear- you get used and abused by one in real life— you can spot them out easily ever after- in real life, movies, and in books.)
However, even being able to predict who would be evil - there were quite a few twists & turns that I did not see coming. And what I thought was a snooze fest quickly turned into something that I couldn’t put down. Even though it was a relatively short book (it’s only 297 pages not counting the information at the end) - I still expected it to take me more than a couple days to read.
I was pleasantly surprised with how much I ended up liking this book. And even if I was reading on with disgust and contempt towards a lot of unsavory characters, I still think that a book that can’t be put down should still be rated higher.
Kept You Guessing
It was a twisty and turny mystery with small windows into the messy depths or human interaction. I would recommend this book to lovers or history, art, and mysteries that take a few turns when solving
Okay but…
Story stated off great and then just kind of fell apart somewhere in the middle. The ending was predictable . Too bad because the theme of the story had so much potential . Found the book lackluster