Publisher: Harvil
Release date: 9 July 2026
Back cover blurb: St Cordula’s Catholic boarding school has survived for centuries on tradition, discipline and silence. Now its future is under threat, and Deputy Head Fiona Fox is preparing to lead the controversial change that could save it from ruin. But St Cordula’s has always had rules of its own. Legend has it that the ghost of fifteenth-century nun, Sister Matilda, will keep the school 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, remain. Every year, the words are repainted. The only time they were allowed to fade, in 2002, a terrifying outbreak of vertigo swept through the pupils. One girl died on the night stairs. And only three people know what really happened. Now the vertigo is back, and as panic sweeps the school, Fiona must confront a dark secret from her past. Or face the deadly consequences…
St Cordula's Catholic School for Girls is about to go kicking and screaming into the modern day, through a partnership with the local Catholic boys school.
After a scandal involving some of its priests - I'm sure you can guess the rest ... the boys school is keen to make a fresh start.
But St Cordula's is about to have a long ago scandal of its own resurface when one of its pupils is struck down by the 'spins', a vertigo phenomenen that affects people in very close proximity with each other, like a boarding school.
Deputy Head Teacher, Fiona Fox was once a pupil at St Cordula's and she was there when the last attack of the 'spins' struck, resulting in tragedy. But no one knows she is a former pupil, and no one must find out.
Years earlier Becks, Jessica and Kylie are navigating the bullies of St Cordula's whilst trying to save it from closure due to its financial situation. There is a ghost supposedly haunting the abbey attached to the school. The spirit of Matilda who fell to her death on the 'night stairs'.
Possibly the first victim of the 'spins'.
When the girls risk their lives by climbing the night stairs years later, they can't possibly understand the danger that they have put themselves in or what might follow.
Twisty, turny and expertly written combining years of tradition with modern tech and evolution, I loved this latest offering from Erin Kelly.
the Night Stairs is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.
Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.