She is an old pensioner who has lived in a nondescript house for over 50 years.  Sure, she is a bit eccentric with a very wry sense of humor. Well, you have to agree that if an octogenarian would like to remark on something and get a few chuckles out of it, maybe she deserves it. After all, she has spent eighty-one years on this planet and is long overdue for that eminent ending. But she is no ordinary woman; she is infamously known as the ‘Mad Mabel’ across the world because of her murky past.

Sally Hepworth builds the novel’s premise on a solid foundation by showing routine pieces of Elsie Fitzpatrick’s current life. As expected from a retired woman in her eighties, Elsie is living a humdrum life in an Australian suburb. Sure, she has few neighbors, but their exchange doesn’t go beyond a few words. After all, why would she require anyone else when she has Daphne, who has been with her through so much?

Then all of this façade of normality comes tumbling down when Elsie discovers the dead body of her elderly next-door neighbor, Ishan Patel. An untimely death in the proximity of an infamous child serial killer throws open the floodgates, and finally Elsie has to confront her past publicly, which she managed to put a lid on for so long.

While doing so, she gets unexpected support from her neighbors, who were very much suspicious of her due to her blood-stricken past. These include Roxanne, whose young daughter, Persephone, tries to win over Elsie’s friendship against all odds, even by defying her own mother.

It’s absolutely genius in the way Sally Hepworth has built Elsie’s character. Initially, she comes across as an eccentric old lady trying to pass her sunset years in peace; however, it’s heartbreaking to read what has cost her to get that peace. Once it’s revealed that Elsie Fitzpatrick was, in fact, Mabel Waller, who was held responsible for so many accidents and deaths in her growing-up years, we still tend to root for her as there is a collective sense that there might be more to the story of the youngest serial killer in Australia.

It’s a credit to the author for building the parallel storyline in as sensitive and humane a way as possible, shuffling between then and now. Slowly and surely, we see this tantalizing case from a young Mabel’s eyes, and our hearts break for that lonely childhood. When one gets blamed for every minor altercation, accident, or death during their adolescent years, whom do they turn to? Sadly, Mabel turns to several people who not only mislead her or take advantage of her, but they twist the narrative for their own benefit. This mainly includes her mother and her narcissistic father, who can’t seem to see beyond their own griefs and joys, respectively.

So, whom should we blame for what happens next? You read this fantabulous novel to decide that yourself.

A highly engaging and unquestionably recommended read. Add it to your TBR, now!!