The Night Stairs - Erin Kelly

THE NIGHT STAIRS

ERIN KELLY

****

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…

MY REVIEW

****

I recently enjoyed listening to a Podcast called Hysterical which explored the ‘LeRoy outbreak’ among schoolgirls in New York, which was described as one of the most severe cases of mass psychogenic illnesses in modern US history. When I saw the blurb for The Night Stairs, I saw some similarities and was excited to give it a read.

A religious boarding school is the ideal place for stories and myths to spread. The words ‘God Forgive Me’ scrawled in paint on the Night Chapel stairs by a 15th Century nun is supposed to keep the girls safe. Many years ago, when it started to fade, a mysterious illness known as ‘the spins’ swept through the school and a girl died on the steps. Now many years later, the spins are back, and Deputy Headmistress Fiona Fox must get to the bottom of this outbreak before someone else gets hurt.

The novel switches perspectives between best friends Jessica and Becks in the past, and Deputy Headmistress Fiona in the present day. Both of these timelines were interesting, and I didn’t find myself skipping one to get to the other. They both impact each other in different ways and Erin Kelly has a brilliant way of misleading readers, (or perhaps allowing incorrect assumptions to be made which are not corrected until much later in the story) which allows for a bigger gut punch of a twist! Quite a few times I was left feeling surprised as the rug was pulled from under my feet. The novel also touches on themes of sexuality and class within the setting of a religious and expensive boarding school steeped in tradition, and I liked the introduction of a lottery winner into that dynamic and the inherent issues with opening up a close friendship to include a third person.

My one criticism for the book would be that I did feel like it dragged and started to get repetitive in the middle. The end reveal is one which I don’t think will be very well received by some readers, but it is also not really signposted within the prose and so there is no way a reader can guess that it is coming.

Overall, The Night Stairs is a twisty book, with reveals that had me shocked throughout. Thank you to NetGalley & Random House UK – Vintage and Harvill for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

LINKS TO BUY

Amazon UK

Waterstones