Sally Hepworth

Fiction 2026 | 347 pages

It was a challenge to come up with an overall descriptor for this novel.  As I told a few people while I was reading it, it is an "unusual" book.

Some descriptors from reviews as well as my own thoughts: suspense, humor, twist-filled, darkly funny, haunting, heartbreaking, emotional, deep characters, light, page-turner.  

A few reviewers described it as a "character study" which I never knew as a style of book, but it seems the most accurate to me.

81-year Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick has lived on Kenny Lane for 50 years.  It is a small street behind retail shops in Melbourne.  Not high end economically.

"Mabel?  (Her name then, but not now), has a reputation as "Mad Mabel."  She is the youngest person ever tried and committed of murder in Australia, at 15.  When one of her neighbors on Kenny Street dies of natural causes and she finds his body, the community at large thrusts itself back into history, to the days of "Mad Mabel" and begins to see her ... now Elsie ... as the potential murderer.

Elsie is a curmudgeonly 82-year-old with lots of energy and actually a big heart, which doesn't really develop until her 80s. During the present -day time frame of this book, she develops relationships with Persephone, a 7-year-old who adopts her; Nugget, a rather obnoxious dog that belonged to the man who died, and Elsie can't see going to a shelter; and a number of the quieter, more recluse women on the small street.  She has seen a lot of death as a child and is unfairly accused of more than one death before she reaches adulthood.  The narrative excellently presents a dual time line, with the sections labeled "Then" and "Now."  The structure to keep us in these two time lines is a pair of You Tube digital creators who decide to capture her life story, and also become her friends.  A great mirror for an 81-year-old!

Not depressing or scary, Mad Mabel is actually an enjoyable read.  I recommend it without hesitation.