The House of Stairs

By Barbara Vine

One day the main character, Elizabeth (Lizzie), sees an old acquaintance, Bell Sanger, on a London street. Bell, on the other hand, has just got out of prison after serving a sentence for a murder that took place in a tall boarding house, known as the House of Stairs fourteen years ago. Bell and Lizzie once lived in this house together with several other men and women. The house had several floors with a total of 106 stairs counted from top to bottom.

Lizzie decides to track down Bell and they slowly start to renew their old friendship. Little by little Lizzie reveals what happened in the house all those years ago and the events leading up to Bell’s arrest and why she was charged with murder.

The story is mostly set in the past but towards the end it skips back and forth in time between the past and the present.

This is not my favourite Barbara Vine novel. The storyline did not grip me and all I can say is that this was a very disappointing read.