Katy Hays “The Cloisters”
The Cloisters, the debut novel from Katy Hays, was published in 2022, and I caught up with it in the following year. Hays is an academic, living and working in the USA, who has put this experience to good use in the book. The story is told in the first person by Ann, who has just completed university, and is now moving to a Summer job in New York City. After a mix up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ann is transferred to a subsidiary establishment, the Cloisters, which specialises in the Medieval era.
Katy conveys the Gothic beauty, and atmosphere, of the Cloisters in a manner that seems too good to be true. On finishing the book, I found that the Cloisters actually exists, and is much as it is described by the author. Strangely, I already knew the Met was real! Here they are linked in a brilliant novel of intrigue and rivalry, mixing modern day New York with an Occult mystery from Renaissance Italy. Ann is fascinated by both times and places. The book has a beautiful dust jacket design, with a picture of dark plants being visited by red butterflies, while the text has a lot of gold lettering.
Ann begins work as a research assistant for Patrick, who is planning an exhibition on the use of Astrology in the Renaissance, and hoping to find solid evidence for the use of tarot cards, in the prediction of the future, back in the fifteenth century. Patrick, more than twice Ann’s age, already has a young lady, Rachel, engaged in the project. The other main character is Leo, the gardener at the Cloisters, who has a bohemian personality, and chequered career. As the academic story develops, the personal relationships between the four people, including possible or potential romances, help drive a complex, and clever, plot. The character of Ann changes as the book progresses and, midway through, I started to wonder whether she is an unreliable narrator.
The story is set across a Summer, with the author, via Ann, regularly telling us whether it is June, July, or August. The many August events, often separated by a few days, appear to me to extend to a timeframe beyond the 31 days in the month. I wonder whether Katy kept track of the sequence as she wrote. I have never been to New York, or anywhere in the USA, but felt that Hays’ writing in this book captured the vibrancy of a hot Summer in a city. Parts of the narrative had me recalling working in the centre of London, many years ago.
There are some good minor characters, and I felt more could have been made of Stephen Ketch, a dealer in antiques, and rare books, some of doubtful provenance. I wonder if Katy has read John Steinbeck’s The Short Reign of Pippin IV, where a similar role was played by Charles Martel?
An unsettling atmosphere becomes darker, as the story unfolds. Several developments in the plot turn upon rather unlikely coincidences, and I thought the closing chapters were a bit over dramatic, with revelations that left me without much sympathy for any of the main characters. Despite this, I found The Cloisters an excellent read, and hope Katy Hays is able to follow it with another book before too long.
I acquired The Cloisters on the same day as The Ghost Ship, by Kate Mosse. The next day I posted pictures on Twitter of both books, mentioning that the cover of Katy’s novel includes an endorsement from Kate. This led to a replies from Kate and Katy, who each confirmed their admiration for the other’s writing. I do not suppose it needed humble me to connect these two great lady writers, but it was pleasing to play a part. A subsequent Tweet from myself about The Cloisters prompted another response from Katy, this time with three black hearts – I wondered if this had a tarot meaning?
andrewgodsell 