The Screaming Staircase

Content Warning: This section mentions a character who died by suicide.

“Soon there’d be nothing moving in the London streets but trails of mist and twisting moonbeams. Or nothing, at least, that any adult could see.”

   Stroud makes use of imagery on every page of his novel. His vivid descriptions bring scenes, settings, and characters to life. He weaves poetic prose into Lucy’s narrative in such a way that it is both beautiful and unsettling, as these descriptions almost always feature sinister yet somehow dazzling images. This quote also explains the fundamental reason for children needing to work as ghost-hunting agents: They are the only ones who can see ghosts.

“After a few moments, I regained control. I withdrew from my anger and let it drop to the floor like a discarded skin.”

 As is demonstrated in this quote, Lucy shows immense self-control in stressful and harrowing situations. When she is attacked by the spirit of Annabel Ward for the first time in the Hope house, she finds herself quickly filling with Annabel’s rage—part of her ability to connect with ghosts. Despite the power that Annabel has, Lucy’s power is greater, and she rises above the emotions with which she is flooded. In a classic example of Stroud’s colorful language, this quote also contains a particularly macabre simile.

“We were an illuminated island in a sea of blackness.”

 In this quote, Lucy metaphorically compares herself and Lockwood as they sit in the kitchen of the blackened Hope home amidst the glow of an oil lantern.