Episode 5.5: ‘The Cloisters’ by Katy Hays
‘The Cloisters’ was one of our most anticipated debuts of 2022 but we’ve been saving it to feature on the pod and we are both SO excited to finally be getting to it.
With comparisons to ‘The Secret History’ and a setting of The Met in NYC, mentions of the Gothic and tarot, it was a no-brainer. but will it prove to be dark academia?
The Secret History meets Ninth House in this sinister, atmospheric novel . . . 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.
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 medieval and Renaissance collections.
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.
Ready to take a trip to New York?
In this episode we discuss:
The numerous connections and parallels to 'The Secret History’
The idea of a modern feminist dark academia
Fate, destiny, and making your own fate
You can listen to it here:
TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘The Cloisters’ by Katy Hays
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘The Ruins’ by Phoebe Wynne
‘How We Fall Apart’ by Katie Zhao
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
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