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 SanatoriumGlamour, power, seduction, ambition - The Cloisters has it all. I adored this deliciously gothic, beautifully written novel. -- LOUISE O'NEILL, author of IdolSultry and sinister... Hays' debut teems with sexual tension, the secrets of divination, and scholarly obsessiveness... jaw-dropping. -- SARAH PENNER, author of The Lost ApothecaryThe Cloisters blew me away. A one sitting read. Absolutely stunning, brilliant twists and gorgeous sensual writing. Adored it. -- HEATHER DARWENT, author of The Things We Do to Our FriendsA tour de force by an important new voice... a rich tapestry that speaks to issues of privilege, power, and ambition-and, more than anything, the darkness lurking just inside ivory towers... incredibly compelling, The Cloisters grabbed me in a way that no book has done since The Secret History. -- RACHEL KAPELKE-DALE, author of The Ballerinas Katy Hays is a writer and adjunct Art History professor in California, where she teaches rural students from Truckee to Tecopa. She holds an MA in Art History from Williams College and pursued her PhD at UC Berkeley. Having worked in curatorial and research roles at major art institutions, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Clark Art Institute, Katy brings an insider's knowledge of the workings of museums and galleries as well as in-depth research into the fascinating history of fortune-telling to The Cloisters, her first novel. She lives with her husband and dog, Queso, in Olympic Valley. 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.