Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth + Berry Pavlova

The Book: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

My rating: 4.5 stars

Mad Mabel was an absolute hoot, and honestly the perfect read for this time of year. It’s the kind of book you can dip in and out of without losing the thread. Nothing about it takes itself too seriously, but don’t mistake that for shallow. It’s packed with humor, mystery, and a whole lot of heart.

Here’s the setup: Mabel is 80 years old and has spent her whole life trying to go unnoticed. As a child, a string of questionable deaths surrounding her earned her the nickname “Mad Mabel,” a name that stuck to her for decades. She was eventually convicted of murder, and now, as an old woman, she’s living quietly under a different name near where she grew up. Minding her own business, keeping her head down, staying hidden.

Of course, that doesn’t last. A series of neighborhood events, paired with one very inquisitive seven-year-old girl, exposes who Mabel really is.

What makes this book work is the combination; mystery, a curmudgeon you can’t help but fall in love with, laugh-out-loud moments, and a genuinely tender relationship that develops between Mabel, her neighbors, and that nosy little girl. It snuck up on me. I’d recommend it without hesitation.

The Pairing: Berry Pavlova

Here’s where I went down a rabbit hole, which if you know me, is nothing new.

Mad Mabel is set in Australia, and one of the dishes mentioned in the book is a chicken pot pie of sorts. Delicious, I’m sure, but not exactly a summer dish, and I wasn’t willing to sit on this book until fall just to make something more season-appropriate. So I went looking for Australian foods that actually get served in the summer, and that’s how I landed on pavlova.

A little history for you: both Australia and New Zealand claim to have invented the pavlova, with the story usually tracing back to the prima ballerina Anna Pavlova’s tour in the early 1930s. But digging a bit further (BBC has a great piece on this, linked here), meringue-style cakes like this actually date back to the 18th century. Not exactly new, but the specific combination of meringue base, whipped cream, and fresh fruit on top is very much an Australian tradition, typically served at summer barbecues around Christmastime, since that’s when summer falls in the Southern Hemisphere.

Traditional pavlova leans on passionfruit and other summery fruit, but I used berries, following a recipe I found in Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten (originally shared with the Food Network).

How I Made It

A few honest notes before you dive in: this was time-consuming, and I’m not sure I’d make it again. Not because it wasn’t good, but because I’m not convinced it was worth the effort. Here’s roughly how it went:

Trace a circle onto parchment paper (the recipe calls for a 9-inch plate — good luck finding one of those; I sure couldn’t)
Flip the parchment so the pencil line doesn’t transfer onto the meringue
Whip egg whites, salt, and sugar to stiff peaks
Fold in vinegar, vanilla, and cornstarch (I used potato starch since I can’t do corn)
Spread onto the parchment and bake at 180°F for 1.5 hours, then turn off the oven and let it sit inside for another hour without opening the door — you want that dry environment
Top with homemade whipped cream (just cream, sugar, and vanilla)
Make a quick raspberry sauce — raspberries, sugar, and raspberry jam, heated until it loosens into a syrupy consistency
Toss fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries together, pour the cooled sauce over top, and layer it all onto the meringue once everything has cooled

Visually, it turned out beautiful. The raspberry sauce dribbled over the top in a way that honestly looked a little like blood, which felt oddly fitting for a book about a woman with a murder in her past. Fitting, and a little funny.

The Verdict

The book? Absolutely, yes — read it.

The pavlova? Here’s my honest take: my husband and kids all said it was good, but that it basically just tasted like whipped cream and berries. So while I don’t regret making it, I probably won’t make it again. It was fun to try, my first pavlova ever, but it didn’t feel like anything special enough to earn a repeat.

One tip if you do make it: you’ll likely have extra berry sauce and whipped cream left over. I’m planning to fold the leftover sauce into some homemade yogurt I’m making in the Instant Pot, and I think it’ll be delicious there.