The Night Stairs

Name: The Night Stairs
Brand: Penguin Random House NZ
SKU: 9781787305625
Price: 30.0 NZD
Availability: InStock

By Erin Kelly

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Brief Description

When schoolgirls start fainting one after the other at an elite convent boarding school, old legends twist into new scandals. From irresistible bestselling storyteller Erin Kelly comes the new compulsive thriller The Night Stairs that will leave you craving to read more. "Had me hooked from... Read More

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The Night Stairs

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Description

When schoolgirls start fainting one after the other at an elite convent boarding school, old legends twist into new scandals. From irresistible bestselling storyteller Erin Kelly comes the new compulsive thriller The Night Stairs that will leave you craving to read more.

"Had me hooked from page one…a twisty, confounding mystery" JENNIE GODFREY

"Relentlessly gripping…Original, atmospheric, and deliciously dark" LUCY CLARKE

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...

"Creates a world that pulls you in and won't let go. Deliciously dark and satisfying" JANE FALLON

"Erin Kelly can do no wrong, and in this boarding-school thriller, she does everything right…a complex and beautifully written gothic thriller…I raced through it" CLARE MACKINTOSH

"Outstanding…as much an insightful novel about female friendship and betrayal as it is a compelling mystery" JANE CASEY

"Deeply layered, beautifully penned and infinitely absorbing…a triumph" ABIR MUKHERJEE

"A stylish and utterly compulsive read from one of my favourite storytellers" RUTH WARE

"A stunning gothic thriller – beautifully written, wise, moving, and utterly compelling…an absolute triumph" ALEX NORTH

"Compulsively creepy and genuinely thrilling…Warning—this will keep you up all night" ANNA MAZZOLA

"Like falling into a fever dream—enchanting, embroiling, and addictive. An absolute classic from the peerless Erin Kelly" SARAH HILARY

PRAISE FOR ERIN KELLY:

"So thrilling and unexpected that it made my head spin" LISA JEWELL

"Erin Kelly is supremely skilled at unusual and intelligent suspense plots" DAILY MAIL

"Original, suspenseful, and with complex characters that spring irresistibly to life on the page" LOUISE CANDLISH

"An incredibly atmospheric psychological thriller with a clever, elaborate plot" GRAZIA

"Incomparable…captivating, cleverly constructed" PAULA HAWKINS

"Magnificent" MARIAN KEYES

"A gripping tale of secrets, revenge and obsession, masterfully done" GUARDIAN

"Propulsive…atmospheric, original" GILLIAN McALLISTER

"A taut chamber-piece of psychological suspense" FINANCIAL TIMES

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781787305625

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 09 July 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Harvill

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 40.0mm

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 700g

Pages: 400

Collections

Best Sellers at Book Hero Crime & Thriller Education & Reference Erin Kelly Fiction General Fiction In Stock Books In-Stock Fiction Books New Release Fiction Penguin Books Psychological Thriller

If you like the idea of a book that's part dark academia/part psychological thriller, with a literary feel but that is still effortless, compulsive reading, you need to pick up The Night Stairs, by Erin Kelly. This was a five star read for me and I was utterly gripped by the story right from the start. It had so many things I love in a book - multiple perspectives, a dual timeline, an academic institution steeped in tradition with secrets in its past, literary references,and complex relationship dynamics. It's also very atmospheric, with an almost Gothic feel to it. To top it all off, it's beautifully written, insightful in its observations, and emotionally moving.

In The Night Stairs we meet Fiona, Deputy Head at a convent boarding school. When 'the spins' (fits of vertigo) spread through the pupils, Fiona has seen it all before. When she was a teenager at the school herself, the spins resulted in the death of a girl, and the truth of what happened is known only by three people. When a current pupil begins investigating, it seems the school's secrets and scandals might be exposed...

This book is structured and plotted beautifully, shifting masterfully between timelines and revealing information bit by bit. It introduces new voices at just the right time, and as we learn more about the relationships between the teenage girls at the school, a sense of foreboding grows and a delicious tension creeps into the story. You can't help but feel for the main characters who are smart but socially awkward, unusual enough that they don't fit in which makes life at a boarding school hard. When they do find each other, the dynamics between them are intense, and at a time when they are coming of age and trying to figure life out, everything is heightened. In the current timeline, Fiona is equally intriguing, juggling many balls and hiding significant secrets.

While The Night Stairs has a lot of emotional weight, it also has the intrigue and mystery of a thriller. There are some great reveals, one of which I really did not see coming, and the action really steps up towards the end of the book. I devoured this one and I highly recommend picking it up!

About the Author

Erin Kelly is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Poison Tree, The Sick Rose, The Burning Air, The Ties That Bind, He Said/She Said, Stone Mothers/We Know You Know, Watch Her Fall, The Skeleton Key and The House of Mirrors, as well as Broadchurch- The Novel, inspired by the award-winning TV series. The Poison Tree became a major ITV drama and was a Richard & Judy Summer Read. He Said/She Said spent six weeks in the top ten in both hardback and paperback, was longlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculier crime novel of the year award and selected for both the Simon Mayo Radio 2 and Richard & Judy Book Clubs. The Skeleton Key was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller and was selected as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. Born in London in 1976, Erin lives in north London with her husband and daughters.

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