The marginalised and oppressed in our society frequently ‘fall through the cracks’ and are frequently judged harshly (and unjustly), even invariably pitied. Often they are simply forgotten. Or we try to forget them.

If any of this unenvied cohort are accused, and subsequently convicted, of a crime, their notoriety can know no limits. The mud-slinging by many of those leading supposedly moral and upright lives (and even those of dubious character) can be relentless. Gossip abounds. Judgement flourishes.

Such notions are superbly examined and explored in stellar Australian author, Sally Hepworth’s, latest magnificent novel, the domestic/psychological thriller, Mad Mabel.

This book alternates between the present in Melbourne, Australia (specifically Kenny Lane and it’s eclectic assortment of characters), and the 1950s in Melbourne.

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick (our fearsome, no-nonsense and hardy protagonist) is eighty-one years old, and not to be trifled with. She resides at Kenny Lane in the hip and happening modern metropolis of Melbourne. Kenny Lane is a welcoming and warm (or is it?) “peculiar little cobbled street on the periphery of central Melbourne, made up of the back doors of restaurants and half a dozen single-fronted terrace homes…”.

In addition to Elsie (who lives with her long-suffering but kind friend, Daphne), there resides in Kenny Lane Elsie’s staunch friends (or are they foes?). Elsie’s neighbours include, at number one, Peter Pantages, at number three, Joan Waters, and at number five, Roxanne (a single mum who works night shifts) and her seven year old daughter, the exuberant and curious Persephone. At number two resides Elsie, at number four lives Ishaan and his spritely dog, Nugget, and at number six we have the Nguyens, a quiet couple who largely keep to themselves.

When Elsie discovers the elderly gentleman neighbour, Ishaan, dead in his house, things certainly liven up in Kenny Lane. For starters, the police become involved. Did Ishaan die of natural causes or was foul play involved?

When Joan (who loves to consistently tell people that her nephew is a partner in a law firm and does not herself like Elsie) defiantly informs the police that Elsie is actually Mabel Waller (known around Australia as ‘Mad Mabel’), who at fifteen in 1959, was the youngest person ever convicted of murder in Australia, the police become very interested in Elsie as a possible murder suspect.

Is it true that the little old lady that Persephone is enamoured of (aka Elsie) is in fact a monster living in Kenny Lane so quietly (or is she?).

How does a convicted murderer morph into being a benign little old lady who lives amongst law-abiding  (or are they?) people?

Was Elsie actually guilty of a crime in her youth as abhorrent and permanent as murder? 

Was Mabel Waller a victim herself, or one cunning and clever customer?

Sally effortlessly fluctuates, in this highly captivating and never dull novel, in time to tell us of Mabel’s life ‘then’ and Elsie’s life ‘now’. 

Certainly Mabel was born with a ‘silver spoon in her mouth’, so to speak. Growing up in an enormous “Edwardian mansion” named Rosehill should have been the catalyst for a fairytale childhood. What went wrong? Why did so many people die who existed within Mabel’s orbit? Why was Mabel labelled by everyone as “Mad Mabel” before she was fifteen?

When the young and ambitious  Adeem Anand and Libby Conquest arrive at Elsie’s door wanting to do a podcast about her life (the whole truth from Elsie’s perspective), it seems that Elsie/Mabel are finally going to have a voice. A voice that was once silenced. A voice that has been there all the time.

What will Elsie reveal to Adeem and Libby (and therefore the world, when the podcast goes ‘live’)?

Who is Mr Loukas? Who are Cess and Ness? Who is the menacing Shane who lurks around Roxanne’s house? What does he want?

Sally (as she always does) writes so well of the human condition and psyche. Themes of love (and sometimes lack of love), friendship, social ostracism, trauma, domestic violence and different types of abuse are forensically and expertly detailed throughout the pages of Mad Mabel.

This novel both broke my heart in places and filled me with joy at times.

No-one writes human experience and the inner world of we (sometimes fallible) humans like Sally does. She absolutely nails it.

This is Sally’s tenth book (I have so far read four of them, and loved them all) and I find that Sally’s books are one of life’s blessings – entertaining, enriching, informative, and just simply divine.

I am only sorry that I didn’t get to the recent Brisbane (where I live) Writers Festival to see Sally speak, and promote Mad Mabel, recently. I will definitely do my best to go to see her speak when she comes this way again.

I remember seeing a photo of the American actress, Sarah Jessica Parker, carrying a copy of Sally’s eighth spectacular book, The Soulmate, once. This shows how very loved and widely read her books are (Sally’s books are read all around the world by people from all walks of life, and have been translated into twenty-five languages).

Bravo Sally! Mad Mabel is one of my favourite books that I’ve read this year. I loved every word, loved every page of this book. I will be lining up to read whatever Sally writes next.