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Sally Hepworth, author of Mad Mabel

Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: 81 years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent, and never without a hot cup of tea --- or a cutting remark. She minds her own business in her quiet Melbourne suburb, until a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start flying. Because Elsie hasn’t always been Elsie. Once upon a headline, she was Mad Mabel Waller --- Australia’s youngest convicted murderer. But was she really mad, or just misunderstood? Either way, she’s kept her secret buried for decades. Enter seven-year-old Persephone, a relentless little chatterbox who has just moved in across the road; Joan, who appears to have it in for Elsie; and a healthy dose of public interest. So Mabel does what she’s always done best --- she takes matters into her own hands.

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Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

May 2026

When I tell you that I think MAD MABEL is Sally Hepworth’s best book, I am saying that after having devoured everything she has written.  

Here we have an older protagonist, Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, who is 81 years old and definitively grumpy. Elsie is the neighbor whom people watch and tell their children to be quiet around. She’s living in a Melbourne suburb where she minds her own business until a neighbor is found dead. 

There’s a reason that Elsie keeps more to herself than most. She has something of a history to her. Years ago she was known as Mad Mabel Waller, and she had the honor --- or onerous distinction --- of being Australia’s youngest convicted killer. 

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