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The Night Stairs

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What to expect

Narrated by Bessie Carter (Bridgerton, Outrageous, Les Misérables).

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.

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…

The perfect smart beach read for this summer.

'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

'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

© Erin Kelly 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

Had me hooked from page one. . . a twisty, confounding mystery
Jennie Godfrey, author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS
Erin Kelly has huge fun stirring lashings of snobbery, religion, teenage bitchiness and a hot priest into her gothic take on Malory Towers-style school stories
The Times
Kelly brilliantly evokes the hothouse atmosphere of the school, and the dangerously intense feelings it fosters
Mail on Sunday
Erin Kelly is the utter queen of dark and twisty...an absolute joy
Joanna Cannon, author of AN UNLIKELY VISITOR
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
A spine-chilling read
Good Housekeeping
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
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
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
This elegantly written gothic thriller has a twist for the ages
i
Author Erin Kelly
Narrator Bessie Carter
Duration 14 hours and 26 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529977615
Format Audiobook
Publisher Random House
Genre Crime and mystery: women sleuths, Narrative theme: health and illness, Psychological thriller, Residential educational institutions
Availability AU, GB, IE

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