The Night Stairs

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Centuries of tradition are coming to an end at St Cordula's elite convent boarding 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. Then, fits of vertigo – ‘the spins’ – spread through the pupils, and a second girl fell to her death on the night stairs. But only three people know the truth of what happened the night of the tragedy.

Now the spins are 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...

PRAISE FOR ERIN KELLY:

‘So thrilling and unexpected that it made my head spin’ LISA JEWELL
‘Gripping, twisting, furiously clever’ RUTH WARE
‘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
‘A completely addictive story...Erin Kelly is a genius’ JANE CASEY
‘Magnificent’ MARIAN KEYES
‘A gripping tale of secrets, revenge and obsession, masterfully done’ GUARDIAN
‘A unique storyteller; impossible to predict, impossible to put down’ JOHN MARRS
‘Propulsive... atmospheric, original’ GILLIAN McALLISTER
‘A taut chamber-piece of psychological suspense’ FINANCIAL TIMES
'The worlds she creates are so rich and alive' JANE FALLON

© Erin Kelly 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026