Synopsis:
Eighty-one-year-old Elsie Fitzpatrick lives a quiet life in the suburbs. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else’s business, few would suspect Elsie 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, over 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 finally set the record straight?
Review:
Sally Hepworth’s books are always a tour-de-force in character study, slow burn mystery, and thematic exploration.
81-year-old Elsie thought the worst part of her life was putting up with nosy neighbours and a talkative little girl. Then, her secret gets revealed: as a 14-year-old child in 1954, she was famously convicted of murder and dubbed “Mad Mabel”.
It alternates between 1950s and present day Australia and focuses on the comfort of female friendship regardless of age and stigma.
‘How many seven-year-olds do you know who are friends with eighty-one-year-olds?’
‘It’s not ideal,’ she agrees, after a moment’s consideration. ‘But beggars can’t be choosers.’
I feel a rare moment of pity for the child. ‘You’re not a beggar, child.’
She laughs. ‘I know that. You’re the beggar. I’m the chooser. Because I choose you!’
I always appreciate how quirky Hepworth’s characters are, yet they never revert into caricatures. There’s always a point between the flashbacks other than unveiling the mystery which creates for a satisfying arc.
Like I said, her books are slow. They aren’t filled with thrills or massive twists. In this one, we even get a subtle sapphic romance.
I do wish this went deeper on some of the themes, but the short length hindered this, as well as the climax which tried to introduce more excitement than necessarily worked with the rest of the book.
Like with all her books, I recommend the audiobook for the great narration and characterisation.
Leave a Reply