Mad Mabel
A Novel
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4.6 • 214 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth comes a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who’s not done breaking the rules just yet.
Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: eighty-one years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent, and never without a hot cup of tea—or a cutting remark. She minds her own business in her quiet Melbourne suburb, until a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start flying.
Because Elsie hasn’t always been Elsie. Once upon a headline, she was Mad Mabel Waller—Australia’s youngest convicted murderer. But was she really mad, or just misunderstood? Either way, she’s kept her secret buried for decades.
Enter seven-year-old Persephone, a relentless little chatterbox who has just moved in across the road (armed with stickers, questions, and no sense of personal boundaries); Joan, who appears to have it in for Elsie; and a healthy dose of public interest—the cops are sniffing around, and the media is circling like seagulls at a picnic.
So Mabel does what she’s always done best—she takes matters into her own hands.
Is she a cantankerous old lady with a shady past? A cold-blooded killer with arthritis? Or just someone who’s finally ready to tell her side of the story?
Sharp, surprising, and wickedly funny, this is the unforgettable story of a woman who’s spent a lifetime being underestimated—and is about to prove everyone wrong. Again.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
An elderly grump struggles to clear her name in this smart, funny mystery with a major cozy streak. Hilariously rude 81-year-old Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick has secrets. That’s why she keeps her distance from everyone except her lifelong best friend Daphne. But when Elsie discovers the dead body of an annoying neighbor, those secrets make her a suspect. So she’s left to figure out what really happened with the help of Daphne and a persistent seven-year-old named Persephone. Australian author Sally Hepworth’s darkly humorous prose makes Elsie a heroine we can cheer for, even as we laugh at her casual disregard for social conventions. And pairing her with the inquisitive young Persephone creates a truly indomitable team. We loved the alternating timelines that drew us into Elsie’s youth, showing us how she became the curmudgeon we know today. Mad Mabel is a whodunit laced with plenty of friendship, loyalty, and love.
Customer Reviews
Great book!
Another wonderful book by one of my favorite authors! Do yourself a favor read this book and all her others!!!
Mad Mabel
Really like the story, it’s love story, family dysfunctional and caring, and a wonderful twist.
So lovely and yet heartbreaking as well
This was such a lovely and endearing book based on Mabel Waller’s life and her devastating experiences she endured as a child under the mentally and emotionally abuse of her father, the hidden love her mother bestowed upon her when her father wasn’t present. Her mother’s skittishness and willingness to follow along with her father’s bullish and detached parenting, their penchant for alcohol and large parties plied with alcohol and self absorbed behavior and solo trips away leaving Mabel behind.
She is cast out and shunned by kids and adults alike, not knowing why but believing her father that she is unworthy of being recognized as a friend or someone worthy of knowing. She’s grown to believe she’s got something wrong with her and is called Mad Mabel by all. When her mother hears this terrible name she inquired about it yet Mabel isn’t sure why she’s been called that.
Until one day, she has a terrible fall, breaking many bones in her body and is forced to be hospitalized for an extended period. Her mother has visited daily but her father never shows. She asked her mother about the name Kitty, why she’s heard of it and if perhaps it was a sibling of hers she’d never known. Her mother confesses that Kitty was her baby sister. When Mabel finds out her father blames her for her baby sister contracting the illness and her ultimate death she’s devastated. Her mother said the door where Mabel was in quarantine was locked from the outside, she didn’t know how Kitty had gotten into see Mabel but she died from the illness and her father has blamed her. Several tragic events happen throughout her childhood after her mother’s death while in the care of her aunt Cess, her mother’s sister after her father abandons her to take off with his new mistress, Susan. The same mistress that caused her mother to jump to her demise. When her father returns home and threatens to upend all the peace and security Mabel has felt while in the care of Cess and her friend Ness, a series of events will unfold that will bring Mabel to spending 5 yrs in a mental institution and her aunt Cess to die as well.
Fast forward to Mabel at 81 years of age;
A death on Kenny St will bring the past Mabel has quietly hidden from come back to haunt her. It will be her sweet and loving relationship she develops with the 6 yr old Persephone who is new to Kenny St that will save her and give her the courage to face to adversity and the bullying and public consensus about her. She takes great pride to set the record straight and to keep Persephone safe from the public that has been lashing out at Mabel.
It’s a beautiful story about a lonely and ostracized woman who even at the age of 81 has lived such an isolated and lonely life. With Persephone breaking down the barriers that Mabel has been forced to erect within her to protect herself from being hurt so significantly by people, she begins to see there’s people all around her who do care for her and about. While there’s many who want to believe the worst, who violate her privacy and attack her personal space and threaten her safety, she is able to focus on the love she’s built for Persephone, the bond and the peace she feels when with this child and when she calls her Grandma she is just overwhelmed by emotion that leaves her in tears of such happiness and warmth.
The danger Mabel faces once her anonymity is revealed will be not only protected by neighbors and new friends alike but it is Mabel who’s courage to speak out for the first time and tell her story, the real story that will be what makes all the difference and gives Mabel the closure and recognition of her worth that she’s always deserved.