Becky's Great Book Reviews Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Every time I read a Sally Hepworth novel I'm struck with how intensely readable it is. Mad Mabel is no different and as per Hepworth fiction, hard to categorize. Part thriller, part mystery, part comedy and every bit a study in human nature, Mad Mabel was superb.

Both in the prologue and again towards the end of the book, protagonist Mabel says "It's interesting to note that there are two groups of people who are rarely, if ever, suspected of murder. These groups are elderly women and little girls". An intriguing start to a story and it delivers on that promise of intrigue.

In 1959, when Mabel was just fifteen years old, she becomes the youngest Australian in history to be convicted of murder. Now eighty-one, the novel flip flops chapters from Mabel's youth to present day, when she's telling her story to two podcasters. Readers experience her upbring in an affluent household, but one filled with sadness. Peppered with Mabel's lifetime of trauma, the book is not as depressing as one might expect. Mabel's firecracker personality lends pizazz and humor, and Hepworth's other characters are three-dimensional.

There was a big twist reveal at the end which I saw coming from a mile away, but not the exact nature of the twist. The ending was heart-wrenching, happy and fitting all in one. I will read ANYTHING by Sally Hepworth and I give Mad Mabel five stars out of five.