Sebastin Nez Camargo

The House of Stairs

Author: Barbara Vine
The house of stairs is a Cliff-hanger book, which was written by Barbara Vine, one of the
most pupular crime and mystery writers. The story begins with Elizabeth, who was in a
taxi when suddenly she saw a woman who was crossing the street, a woman she used to
know. She was Bell Sanger a strange and beautiful woman who was in prison the last
fourteen years.
Elizabeth might inherit Huntingtons Chorea, a disease that killed her mother years later.
Elizabeths parents thought Cosette could help her because she was married with Douglas
Kingsley a rich business man who died in his Rolls-Royce on the way to work years later.
After her mothers dead, Elizabeth spent a lot of time with Elsa and at Cosettes house, she
went for a week with Elsa to her relations. Elsas relations invited people to the house
party, and they invite Friends from the cottage like Silas Sanger and his wife Bell. The night
of the party Bell arrived and said Silas shot himself, he was drunk and he was playing
Russian Roulette, he had died.
A few hours before Silas died, his father had died, leaving him a lot of money that came to
Bell. After that Cosette bought a big, tall, house with 106 stairs in Notting Hill (London)
where Elizabeth went to live with her years later. Cossete provided food, drink, cigarettes
bed to young people, students and hippies, she was looking for a lover and she succeeded,
and the man called Ivor Sitwell was her lover. One day Cossete and Elizabeth went to meet
a Ivors friend, and in that house was living Bell.
Ivor was a writer like Elizabeth but he didnt stay for long because Cossete saw him one
day lying in the park with a girl and she couldnt forgive him. Elizabeth and Cossete went
to Florence in Italy, at the Uffizi, Elizabeth bought a painting by Bronzini of Lucrezia
Panciatichi, the woman in the painting looked a lot like Bell. When they came back from
Italy, Bell had moved away from Ivors friends house and disappeared. Then Cossete gave
to Elizabeth a room near the top of the house where Elizabeth wrote her first three books.
One day Elizabeth went to the theatre, and Bell was there, she was with two girls and two
men, Bell told to Elizabeth one of the men was her brother Mark. A week later Bell went to
Cossetes house, she went up with Elizabeth to the room near the top, then Bell looked
straight at the picture because the painting was hanging on the Wall.

Cossete was ill, and Elizabeth told Bell that she thought Cossete was dying of cncer, but
Cossete went into hospital and they found it was nothing seriuos. Bell showed up again
and went to live in Cossetes house, Cossete gave her the top room in the the house of
stairs. Cossete apologized for the room, the 106 stairs, the low ceiling and dangerous
window.
Bell brought her brother one day, Cossete fell in love with him that day, Mark came to the
house more often and he and Cossete went out more together. Bell thought when Cossete
dies the house and all her money will go to Elizabeth, Bell still thought Cossete got cncer
but Elizabeth told her Cossete was perfectly.
Mark moved to Cossetes house, Mark and Cossete were in love. Mark one day told
Elizabeth that he and Cossete didnt want to continue living in the house of stairs. They
were going to buy smaller place somewhere so that could be by themselves.
That night they all went out to dinner at a restaurant, when suddenly a woman came up
behind Mark and touched him on the shoulder. She was Marks sister in law, all of them
thought Bell was Marks brother but Bell wasnt his sister, Bell was his lover.
Cossete got up and walked out of the restaurant, and Mark went after Cossete. Bell came
up the stairs of Cossetes house and passed the door. Cossete and Mark arrived to the
house of stairs, Mark had told Cossete everything, he explained Bells plan and his own
part in it and Cossete forgave him.
Days later Mark and Cossete came home, they had made the arrangements for getting
married, Mark went upstairs, up all 106 stair, he must tell Bell about the wedding, he
walked in, she was there in the room, lying by the wide open window. He was standing by
the open window and Bell ran at him and pushed him out, she wanted to pull him back
out the air.
a
Bell went to prison, and when she was twelve years old, Bell killed her baby sister, she
spent her childhood in a special part of a womens prison. Bell fixed Silas gun so that the
game of Russian roulette would kill him too.
Cossete married an old friend of Douglass.