May 2026

When I tell you that I think MAD MABEL is Sally Hepworth’s best book, I am saying that after having devoured everything she has written.  

Here we have an older protagonist, Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, who is 81 years old and definitively grumpy. Elsie is the neighbor whom people watch and tell their children to be quiet around. She’s living in a Melbourne suburb where she minds her own business until a neighbor is found dead. 

There’s a reason that Elsie keeps more to herself than most. She has something of a history to her. Years ago she was known as Mad Mabel Waller, and she had the honor --- or onerous distinction --- of being Australia’s youngest convicted killer. 

I love the line that the two groups of people who are rarely suspected of murder are old ladies and young girls. I heard Sally talk about this book at a recent event. When the word “murderer” is said with an Australian accent, it takes on an even darker tone. 

Mabel is sharper than people make her out to be. She has had to be that way her whole life since basically she was not parented well. She was on her own and abused by those who should have protected her. No wonder she has the edge that we come to see at the start of the story. 

On her block is Persephone, a little girl with a big name. She does not see the barriers around Elsie. She bounds into her life making more noise than one would want to hear at Elsie’s age. But at the same time, she comes to see something in this plucky child. Perhaps she sees a piece of who she was or wished she could have been.

Here we have a domestic thriller that packs so many emotional punches --- ones that are both hard and soft. The dual timelines work well to unfold the story. The past is brought in just when you need to know that part. The present has its own arc. When the present-day storyline comes together, it feels like Elsie has become whole and a lot less damaged than she once had been. There’s something special about finding family. She does this more than once. And here in the end, she gifts that same found family to the people who need it most.