On the HahaFiction shelf
Mad Mabel
Elsie Fitzpatrick has reached eighty-one with a quiet life on a Melbourne lane and a secret she’d prefer to keep. A neighbor’s death brings her past into public view: she was once Mabel, convicted of murder as a girl. With police asking questions and the media watching, Elsie decides to give her own account.
From the publisher’s blurb
“They called it murder. She called it justice.”Read the full description at Pan Macmillan Australia publisher description
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What makes it funny?
Elsie has a sharp answer for people who disturb her peace. Her sarcastic banter shares space with hopeful private thoughts, especially when her persistent young neighbor Persephone gets involved. Book-group readers enjoy the blunt older heroine and the warmth of her new connections; audio listeners also praise the delivery.
The comedy at work
Age makes Elsie easy for other people to underestimate. Her retorts and interest in everyone else’s business complicate that impression, while the story moves between her guarded present and a painful past.
Try this if…
Readers looking for an older female lead and friendships across generations have found much to enjoy here. Some describe wanting another book like it immediately afterward, or returning to earlier chapters to reconsider what they’d noticed.
Good to know
Reactions divide over the thriller label. Some readers find the pace slow and the characterization thin or the emotions too heavily pushed; others prize the friendships and feeling. Expect murder and a tragic history alongside the banter.
A few distinguishing details
- An elderly woman reclaiming the story of her murder conviction
- Sarcastic exchanges alongside friendships across generations
More funny contemporary & literary
Sources & further reading
- UK publisher
Publisher
- Kirkus audio review
Review
- Reader discussion
Reader discussion
- Australian publisher
Publisher
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