About this book
(blurb from Penguin Random House SA)
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.
There she is drawn into a small circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, each with their own secrets and desires, including the museum’s curator, Patrick Roland, who is convinced that the history of Tarot holds the key to unlocking contemporary fortune telling.
Relieved to have left her troubled past behind and eager for the approval of her new colleagues, Ann is only too happy to indulge some of Patrick’s more outlandish theories. But when Ann discovers a mysterious, once-thought lost deck of 15th-century Italian tarot cards she suddenly 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 whether she is truly able to defy the cards and shape her own future . . .
Bringing together the modern and the arcane, The Cloisters is a rich, thrillingly told tale of obsession and the ruthless pursuit of power.
My thoughts
“What if our whole life—how we live and die—has already been decided for us? Would you want to know, if a roll of the dice or a deal of the cards could tell you the outcome? Can life be that thin, that disturbing?”
Having owned two decks of Tarot Cards, the traditional Rider Waite cards, as well as a gorgeous William Blake inspired deck, it took me seconds to decided that “The Cloisters” sounds like a book that would be right up my alley! As if the gorgeous cover art wasn’t enough.
“To feel history through the things it left behind. But to do that is not to be with the living… It’s dead. All of it. That’s the real task of a scholar, to become a necromancer… so many of us forget the true purpose is to reanimate the thing. Even, sometimes, at the cost of animating ourselves.”
“The Cloisters” is beautifully atmospheric with full dark academia feels. To me, that aesthetic was even more pronounced when I discovered that the setting at the core of this book, is a real location: https://www.facebook.com/TheMetCloisters
The author managed to create a very realistic visual depiction in my mind of what this Gothic Museum looks like, even before I googled for photos.
“And even though we had candlelight, the room itself began to feel darker still. As if we all, as if the library itself, were being pulled deeper into the belly of The Cloisters. As if the ceiling, with its rib vaults and crisscrossed beams, were slowly folding down on us. But rather than being terrifying, there was something about it that felt delicious.”
I was taken with the dusky, mysterious, almost claustrophobic museum, the incestuous work relationships, the toxic friendships. And who doesn’t love a bad boy gardener?
What a wonderful place to research and study the art of divination, even more so when a tarot deck, that seems to date back to the Renaissance age, makes its appearance.
“That was the reality of an archive—they were always incomplete despite their depth, made up, as they were, of fragments.”
I was invested in the fascinating subject matter; I found this look into academic life intriguing. The details shared when it comes to art history, as well as the origin of tarot was quite enlightening, and it was clear that the author did comprehensive research into this.
“Wasn’t that, after all, why we had become academics and researchers in the first place? To discover art as a practice, not just as an artifact?”
The fate versus free will conundrum is at the centre of this tale of obsession.
“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.”
It is a slow burn, be warned though (in case you expected a book that was more fantasy/thriller driven.
What I enjoyed most:
- Atmospheric
- Dark academia aesthetic
- Tarot history and education
- Fate vs free will?
- “Ann Stilwell’s Guide to Reading Tarot” (at the back of the book)
“I think I do believe that people can tell the future,” I said quietly. “But I don’t know why anyone wants to know how their story ends,” she replied.
With thanks to Penguin Random House SA for the opportunity to read this book.
The Details:
ISBN 9781787636408
Format Trade Paperback
Recommended Price R299.00
Published February 2023
About the Author:
Also check out her “Book Club” guide with interesting discussion points! https://www.katyhays.com/forbookclubs
