This morning I finished this tale of ABSOLUTE GOTHIC GENIUS. Erin Kelly is the utter queen of dark and twisty and I loved the very bones of it. Also, I have LIVED this story for the past few days, because even when I wasn't reading, I was thinking about it.
THE NIGHT STAIRS has everything you could ever want in a story. An isolated convent school on the Yorkshire Moors. Ravens. Boarding school mythology. Dead nuns. Overwrought teenage girls. And slippery stone staircases. With a dual timeline of the present day and twenty years earlier, we join the staff and pupils of St Cordula's as they grapple with folklore vs religion, tradition vs adaptation, and who - at the end of the day - are we truly answerable to? Against a backdrop of a ghostly 15th century novitiate and ravens tapping away on windows ... I mean seriously. You could not ask for more.
It's fiercely clever, brilliantly plotted, exquisitely paced, and an absolute joy to read. In the proof it says there is 'a map to come'. I definitely did not need a map, because Erin is such a skilled writer, I knew those cloisters and turrets like the back of my hand. It helps that I went to a school very much like St Cordula's ... except we had boys and no nuns. Most definitely the same vibe though.
THE NIGHT STAIRS is out in July from @harvillbooks and I cannot recommend it enough. Especially a cheeky pre-order. It's an absolute corker of a thriller, it wrong-footed me with its twists so many times, and I have no clue how Erin manages this with every book she writes, but I am deeply grateful that she does ❤️
EXCITING NEWS!
We'll be getting SIGNED copies of "Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old" by Professor Mary Beard @wmarybeard
It explains why the deep past does really affect us all.
It's out later this month book fans!
Order HERE.
biggreenbookshop.com/signed-copies/…
I'm posting a load of tweets about SIGNED books.
One person chosen at random who retweets any tweet I do today about SIGNED books will win the paperback of their choice.
You can retweet them all for more chances to win.
I'll announce the winner at about 10pm
GOOD LUCK!
Return your unwanted Reform UK flyers to this address and it costs them £2.50 a pop.
Pop this address on an envelope with the flyer in, and pop it in a post box!
The more we return, the less they will send!
This is the proof of my 10th novel, High & Low out 7 May. It’s a State of the Nation novel about Britain falling apart, a thriller inspired by the classic film Assault on Precinct 13 and a sequel to my notorious satire on literary London, A Vicious Circle. RT please.
Bees lives less than 40 days, visit at least 1000 flowers and produces less than a teaspoon of honey. For us it is only a teaspoon of honey, but for the bee it is a lifetime of work.
Thank You Bees!
Meet Mackenzie Bly (not his real name; see back cover).
I wanted to write something purely funny, but I fell in love with my lead character along the way.
It's out in August, but the lovely proofs have just arrived.
Retweet before tomorrow (Sun) evening, and I'll pick 2 winners.
Happy publication day to one of the best stories I have ever read.
A Far-flung Life (which I raved about a few months ago) is available to buy right now and I cannot recommend it enough. It's just beautiful.
waterstones.com/book/a-far-flu…
Here's a version of the English nursery rhyme, "The Grand Old Duke of York" 🎶 about the man who says he isn't going to call himself it anymore ... though whether he should be taken at his word ... 🤔
Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop… via @38degrees
Glenn Close: “I have watched our democracy being systematically disemboweled and torn apart along with the institutions, which in the near past, though never perfect, have stabilized our society and supported the American people. I am outraged and sickened by what is happening under the Trump regime. The cruelty, inhumanity, and arrogance, the voracious corruption, the cowardice, the sickening hypocrisy, the blatant manipulation of facts, and now, the cold-blooded murder of American citizens”