Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Amy   

fiction

Elsie, an 81-year old formerly known as the youngest jailed Australian Mad Mabel, is forced back into the spotlight when her elderly next door neighbor dies and someone divulges to the police that Elsie is really Mad Mabel.

This is another old curmudgeon redemption story. You’ve read others like this, no doubt. An elderly person who’s experienced trauma avoids people until meddling neighbors kindheartedly ruin their peaceful, miserable solitude. In this novel, that meddling neighbor is a lonely 7-year old who lives across the street.

I’ve read five other Sally Hepworth novels and they average 3-1/2 hearts in my reviews which means I generally like her novels. But I’ve not been interested in reading all of her novels. Mad Mabel was getting early rave reviews and I also liked the cover art. Sadly, this is my least favorite of all of them.

Why? Unbelievability, depressing vibe, and unoriginal storylines. I know that sounds harsh. I’m sorry about that.

Despite the happy ending and some really fun characters, I just had a hard time swallowing the main premise—that a parent would go around badmouthing his child to such a degree for something that happened when she was 3 years old. Sure, he was likely feeling guilty. But could he feel cornered and narcissistic enough to carry on a long-running smear campaign against his own child? And even if that is to be believed, the idea that other grown adults would be spreading that stigma against a small child and carrying it on for years is ludicrous to me. Sure, it was the 1940s and 50s but I wasn’t buying it.

Most of the time I was reading this novel, I felt a pervasive sense of sadness and dread because poor Mabel was failed by grownups at practically every turn. She lost the opportunities to experience true friendship and was led astray by multiple people who should have been protecting her. On top of that, there are two reveals in this novel which, I imagine, were intended to surprise readers at the end. However, I’ve read those storylines in other novels and could see them coming before the halfway point.

Overall this book was depressing. Even the “happy ending” was bittersweet because positive change came so late in Mabel’s life.

The audiobook narrators were Hannah Fredericksen (voicing young Mabel) and Jenny Seedsman (voicing old Mabel). They both did a great job—especially Seedsman who had more diverse material to work with. I’ll give them an A- as an ensemble. Although, I feel one narrator could’ve carried this novel.