The Night Stairs
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Publishing:9th Jul '26
£16.99
This title is due to be published on 9th July, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
When schoolgirls start fainting one after the other at a convent boarding school, old legends twist into new scandals. From irresistible bestselling storyteller Erin Kelly comes the new thriller that will leave you craving to read more.
'Had me hooked from page one. . . a twisty, confounding mystery' JENNIE GODFREY
'Creates a world that pulls you in and won't let go. Deliciously dark and satisfying' JANE FALLON
Centuries of tradition are coming to an end at St Cordula's school. Deputy Head, Fiona Fox, is about to preside over a controversial move to save it from ruin. But it’s not easy to change things at a school this old.
Legend has it that the ghost of fifteenth-century nun, Sister Matilda, will keep St Cordula’s safe. But only as long as the words ‘GOD FORGIVE ME’, scrawled by Matilda on a chapel staircase wall before she fell to her death, are repainted every year. The words have only been allowed to fade once, in 2002. But then, fits of vertigo spread through the pupils, and a second girl fell to her death on the night stairs. Only three people know the truth of what happened on the night of the tragedy.
Now the vertigo is back, and Fiona must stem the outbreak before it threatens St Cordula’s future, or worse, another girl loses her life. But when one of her pupils begins a dangerous investigation into the past, old secrets start to twist into new scandals…
'Relentlessly gripping...Original, atmospheric, and deliciously dark' LUCY CLARKE
'Outstanding...as much an insightful novel about female friendship and betrayal as it is a compelling mystery' JANE CASEY
'A stylish and utterly compulsive read from one of my favourite storytellers' RUTH WARE
'I was totally absorbed by the claustrophobia and Gothic dread of St Cordula’s... Clever, ingenious and gripping' SABINE DURRANT
Had me hooked from page one. . . a twisty, confounding mystery -- Jennie Godfrey, author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS
Nobody builds a world quite as believable as Erin Kelly. And no one can tear it down quite so deliberately too. The Night Stairs is another captivating, fiendishly clever thriller with blindsiding twists -- John Marrs, author of DEAD IN THE WATER
I’ve loved each of Erin Kelly’s novels – but The Night Stairs is my new favourite. The richly evoked setting of St Cordula’s convent school becomes a playground for malaise and madness, in this relentlessly gripping psychological thriller. Original, atmospheric, and deliciously dark -- Lucy Clarke, author of THE HIKE
Outstanding...peeling back the layers of respectability and tradition in a Catholic girls' school to reveal incense-bitter truths. Atmospheric and expertly crafted, this is as much an insightful novel about female friendship and betrayal as it is a compelling mystery...Erin Kelly is one of the absolute best in the business. -- Jane Casey, author of THE SECRET ROOM
Wonderful and original novel. . . intelligent, nuanced and immersive, as well as intricately plotted, with a deeply convincing cast of characters and an extraordinary depiction and understanding of teenage girls. The twists are powerful. . . -- Claire Kendal, author of MAKE YOU MINE
I was utterly absorbed by this chilling and immersive thriller. The plot is intricate, the twists are head-spinning, the setting is so vivid I can still walk around it in my mind, but what I loved most of all were the perfectly painfully rendered characters. -- Holly Seddon, author of 59 MINUTES
Hysteria, secrets, faith. . . and murder? This gothic boarding school mystery had all of my favourite things, and gripped me until the very last twist. Erin Kelly is a cut above -- Juno Dawson, author of HER MAJESTY'S ROYAL COVEN
Erin Kelly is the master of the immersive thriller and The Night Stairs is a wonderful example of her ability to weave multiple timelines, characters and mysteries together to tease, challenge and ultimately entertain the reader...Writing with wit and devastating accuracy Kelly reminds us of how a tension filled adolescence can so easily tip into horror -- Sinead Crowley, author of THE BELLADONNA MAZE
A brilliant psychological thriller, with all of Kelly’s customary fierceness and focus. -- Lucy Mangan, author of BOOKISH
Erin is so brilliant at world-building. I was totally absorbed by the claustrophobia and Gothic dread of St Cordula’s with its ghastly private school kids and uptight teachers. All those secrets and repression - It’s like a gruesome combination of its own references, Enid Blyton and Virginia Andrews. Clever, ingenious and gripping -- Sabine Durrant, author of SUN DAMAGE
ISBN: 9781787305618
Dimensions: 240mm x 156mm x 40mm
Weight: 750g
400 pages