The Cloisters

Pitched as The Secret History for a new generation, this dark tale of toxic obsession, ambition, and corrosive friendships proved to be one of the year’s most captivating debuts – a top 10 bestseller in the UK and the USA!

The Sunday Times Top 5 Bestseller... in hardback and now in paperback!

The Secret History meets Ninth House... the discovery of a mysterious deck of tarot cards lays bare shocking secrets within a close-knit circle of researchers at New York’s famed Met Cloisters museum.

“Glamour, power, seduction, ambition - The Cloisters has it all. I adored this deliciously gothic, beautifully written novel.” – Louise O’Neill

“Dark and enigmatic... a story of academic obsession, Renaissance magic and the ruthless pursuit of power. Captivating in every sense.” – Sarah Pearse

“Elegant and atmospheric and suffused with brooding menace.” – Lucy Clarke

“Sultry and sinister... teems with sexual tension, the secrets of divination, and scholarly obsessiveness... jaw-dropping.” – Sarah Penner

“Beguiling and atmospheric, an entrancing and gripping tale.” – Kate Mosse

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 finds herself happy to indulge some of their more outlandish theories. This includes 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.

As the game being played within The Cloisters spirals out of control, Ann must decide who she trusts...