by Katy Hays
First published 2024
Ann Stilwell arrives in New York expecting to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the summer. Instead, she gets assigned to The Cloisters, a museum complex of monasteries and gardens famous for its medieval and Renaissance art collections. Ann joins a small circle of charismatic but mysterious researchers who embrace unusual theories about art and divination. The museum curator obsesses over tarot and believes deeply in fortune telling. When Ann discovers an enigmatic fifteenth century Italian tarot deck thought to be lost, she becomes entangled in a dangerous game involving power, toxic friendship, and ambition. As this game spirals beyond anyone's control, Ann must decide whom she can trust in a world where ancient cards may hold the key to deadly secrets.
Genres: art, art-history, contemporary-romance, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New York, The Cloisters
Period: 15th Century
348 pages · Paperback · Luna
Content warnings: toxic-relationship