As a young girl, she was given the nickname ‘Mad Mabel,’ but how mad was she, really? Mad enough to kill her younger sister? Mad enough to murder her classmates? Apparently so: she became the youngest girl ever convicted of murder in Australia, the subject of a case so infamous children would study it in school decades later.
Fifty years on, Mabel is no longer mad, and she is no longer Mabel. Now going by Elsie Fitzgerald, she lives quietly in a sleepy Melbourne suburb among noisy neighbours and perpetually barking dogs. Her past appears firmly behind her, until one of those nosy neighbours dies. Suddenly, Elsie finds herself slipping back into the role of ‘Mad Mabel’, the child the world once feared. The novel poses a chilling question: once a killer, always a killer?
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth unfolds through the alternating perspectives of Mabel as both a child and an elderly woman. This dual timeline offers an intimate portrait of her inner life, then and now, drawing the reader so close to Mabel that sympathy begins to blur into affection. Against your better judgement, you begin to want to know her and perhaps even befriend her.
And Mabel does have a friend. A best friend, in fact: Daphne, her confidante, the one who believes her when nobody else does. It’s the type of friendship that only seems to exist in books. Then there is Aunt Cess, the first person in her life to offer something resembling maternal tenderness. Their relationship becomes the emotional backbone of the novel, grounding its darker moments in genuine warmth.
At first glance, Mad Mabel presents itself as a murder mystery. Yet as the plot deepens and its relationships unfold, the novel reveals itself to be far more interested in love than violence. Hepworth explores love in all its complicated forms, parental, platonic, romantic and neighbourly, alongside grief, loneliness, and perhaps the cruellest form of love of all: the unrequited kind.
For readers of Mad Mabel, Hepworth’s novel strikes a similarly bittersweet balance between darkness and charm. It is sharp, moving, and threaded with a dry wit that feels distinctly Australian. Impossible to put down, it is the kind of book that demands an afternoon cleared in advance. Whether tucked into your carry-on luggage or read curled up at home this winter, Mad Mabel is likely to win you over completely.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Purchase a copy of Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth here.
