The Cloisters

Starred review from August 1, 2022

DEBUT As a student of early Renaissance art history, Ann Stilwell is eager for her position in the summer associate program at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. She's told on arrival, though, that there's no place for her. Fortunately, Patrick Roland, curator at the Cloisters, scoops her up. He and his assistant, Rachel Mondray, need help in researching for an exhibition on divination, the techniques and artworks used to tell the future. Ann questions whether it's fate or choice that brings her together with the small group of scholars who delve into fortune telling and the occult, searching for answers to the past and the future. But feelings and emotions aren't easy to hide in a group that revolves around the charismatic Rachel. As death and tragedy spin to their conclusion in the eerie setting, it's easy for an academic to say the future was ordained. VERDICT The tension and foreboding builds gradually in this outstanding gothic debut, allowing readers to savor Ann's voice. The disturbing account plays with class differences and women friendship, set against a medieval, academic atmosphere sheltered from the city.--Lesa Holstine

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September 5, 2022
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lands a coveted summer internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—but upon arrival, she learns the offer has been rescinded.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. Agent: Sarah Phair, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc.

October 15, 2022
When a young academic is given the opportunity to research esoteric Renaissance art at The Cloisters, she gets caught up in the secrets of the present. Gifted linguist Ann Stilwell is beyond relieved to escape Walla Walla, where she was born, raised, and where she graduated from college after her father's tragic death. A summer fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York seems like a heaven-sent opportunity, but when she arrives, she is instead offered a job at The Cloisters, a smaller, more intimate museum. Patrick Roland, the curator, has a fascination with Renaissance occult, a small and specialized field, and Rachel Mondray, another recent college graduate, has been working with him to organize an "exhibition on divination," including the tarot. Ann's own niche research neatly complements this topic, but she begins to wonder whether Patrick and Rachel might have more invested in the study of the occult than just their academic brains. As Ann digs into research for the exhibit, she becomes closer and closer to the wealthy, beautiful Rachel. She also finds herself attracted to Leo, the irreverent gardener at The Cloisters who plays in a punk band and grows hallucinogenics to sell to bored housewives. Then one night, Ann, Patrick, and Rachel do a tarot reading, and tragedy ensues. Ann must decide whom to trust--and decide once and for all whether she believes in the power of fate or the burden of free will. Hays sets the stage well for what might have been some truly creepy scenes, but those looking for chills should seek elsewhere. In the end, the plot and characters feel too formulaic and familiar to really surprise. Readers might be better served by seeking out Arturo P�rez-Riverte's The Club Dumas, Donna Tartt's The Secret History, or Tana French's The Likeness. Murder! Occult! Obsession! The pieces are there, but the drama just...isn't.

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