ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Posted on 14th July 2026 By Nicola

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth is published by Pan Macmillan and is available now. My thanks to Book Break for the review copy.

YOU CAN CHANGE
YOUR NAME.
BUT YOU CAN’T
CHANGE YOUR PAST . . .

Eighty-one-year-old Elsie Fitzpatrick lives a quiet life in the suburbs. Few would guess that Elsie, aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else’s business, harbours a secret she’s worked hard to bury.

Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick – once a little girl and now an old lady – has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.

When an elderly neighbour is found dead, no one suspects a thing – until they uncover Elsie’s true identity: Mad Mabel, the youngest Australian in history to be convicted of murder, more than sixty years ago.

The police are asking questions. The media is circling. Has the past finally caught up with Mad Mabel? Or is it time for her to set the record straight?

From the tagline of Mad Mabel I was sort of expecting some granny goes on the rampage sort of story but it’s really not that at all. This is a beautifully portrayed story of an elderly lady whose childhood traumas have had long-reaching effects.

Elsie Fitzpatrick has lived on Kenny Lane for over sixty years. She’s rather cantankerous but nobody ever suspected she had a secret. It’s only when one of her neighbours is found dead that rumours start to spread and Elsie’s secret is about to be revealed: that she is actually Mad Mabel Waller and she was convicted of murder when she was just a child.

The story is told in chapters from ‘then’ and ‘now’. The chapters set in the past tell of Mabel’s childhood, the difficulties she faced and what led up to her incarceration. The chapters in the present follow Elsie as she navigates her life as it changes from a quiet and anonymous one to one in which everyone knows who she really is.

Mad Mabel has everything I want in a book: a strong and crotchety protagonist in Elsie/Mabel whose barbs made me laugh out loud, but who underneath it all is vulnerable and made my heart break for her many times; Persephone, a child on Elsie’s road who burrows her way into Elsie’s reluctant heart; a moving and well-plotted storyline that I didn’t want to stop reading; and some twists in the tale which, whilst I did mostly see them coming, I loved for their enrichment of the overall plot. This will be one of my favourite books of the year and although it’s my first Sally Hepworth book, I’m glad to see she has written plenty of others for me to enjoy.

Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including The Good Sister and The Soulmate. Drawing on the good, the bad and the downright odd of human behaviour, Sally writes incisively about family, relationships and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone. They are available worldwide in English and have been translated into twenty languages.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her family and one adorable dog.