A strong “Secret History” flavour from the first page, brewed in the world of art history and museum curation, with tarot, fate, and medieval poisons.

I found this such a gripping read. We follow Ann Stilwell, who flees a mysterious and troubled past to work in gothic art museum The Cloisters, and falls in with charismatic but equally troubled colleagues who have an academic obsession with tarot and divination.

It is a beautifully sinister study of obsession, toxicity (of both plants and people…) and the role of fate versus free will.