Penned by an art history professor and combining the rich atmosphere of The Secret History with the sinister thrills of Ninth House, Hays' debut about a mysterious group of art researchers and an invaluable fifteenth-century tarot deck is a mesmerising dark academia classic in the making.
Waterstones Thriller of the Month for February 2024
Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, hoping to spend her summer working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she is assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its collection of medieval and Renaissance art.
Drawn into a small circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, Ann happy to indulge some of their more outlandish theories, including the museum's curator who is fixated on tarot and the real possibility of predicting the future.
But when Ann discovers a mysterious, once-thought lost deck of 15th-century Italian tarot cards she finds herself at the centre of a dangerous game of power, toxic friendship and ambition.
And as the game being played within the Cloisters spirals out of control, Ann must decide who she trusts.
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 9781804990032
Number of pages: 416
Weight: 285 g
Dimensions: 197 x 127 x 26 mm
Beguiling and atmospheric, an entrancing and gripping tale. - KATE MOSSE, author of Labyrinth
Elegant and atmospheric and suffused with brooding menace, The Cloisters transports us to the dark corridors of museum life, embroiling the reader in a twisting mystery, while also intelligently exploring the nature of fate versus freewill. - LUCY CLARKE, author of The Castaways
Glamour, power, seduction, ambition - The Cloisters has it all. I adored this deliciously gothic, beautifully written novel. - LOUISE O'NEILL, author of Idol
This is a modern, Gothic masterpiece. Successfully linking modern critical thinking with the divinity of the past, and human nature's desire to believe that there is something else out there. 9/10 - INDEPENDENT
The dark and enigmatic world of The Cloisters captured me from the off . . . a story of academic obsession, Renaissance magic and the ruthless pursuit of power. Captivating in every sense. - SARAH PEARSE, author of The Sanatorium
Sultry and sinister . . . Hays' debut teems with sexual tension, the secrets of divination, and scholarly obsessiveness . . . jaw-dropping. - SARAH PENNER, author of The Lost Apothecary
A sinister slow burn tale of obsession, power, secrets and academic rivalry . . . it's been weeks since I finished the book and I'm still impressed by how much it affected me. - CULTUREFLY
'Dark and compelling . . . richly atmospheric and full of historic detail, it draws the reader into its world of the archive and the occult. As its central mystery unfolds amid the stifling heat of a New York Summer it soon becomes clear that nobody in it is quite who they first appear.' - SALLY HINCHCLIFFE, author of Hare House
Like the moment before a thunderstorm on a summer afternoon, The Cloisters is sultry, lush, and trembling with menace. - JULIA MAY JONAS, author of Vladimir
In Hays' hands, the subject of tarot is a fascinating one and the twists and turns come thick and fast. It's full of menace. - DAILY EXPRESS
"If death was in the cards, would you want to know?"
A darkly deceptive novel, filled with people and things not being quite as they seem. Definitely more 'Secret History' than 'Ninth...
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I read this book and did not feel it was for me. I think the content (tarot cards) etc is not something I am at all interested in and found it a tough read. On saying this I did like the characters and the way they... More
A darkly delicious treat, with a gothic edge, just perfect for gloomy autumn evenings.
Ann, an academic student, still coming to terms with the death of her father, moves to New York for the summer, and is...
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