Whitcoulls Recommends: Mad Mabel and Perspective

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. An elderly man is found dead by his neighbour, 81-year-old Elsie. No one suspects foul play - until they discover that in the 1950's, Elsie’s name was Mabel, and she was the youngest person in Australian history to be convicted of murder – at which point the media circus arrives on her doorstep and the police take an interest, and she decides it might finally be time to tell her story. It’s a charming read with genuine human interest.

Perspective by Shaun Johnson. He is of course the rugby league legend who has had a remarkable career on the field, and who is very interesting off it. The sheer grit and determination – to say nothing of the skills required – are extraordinary, but this is also the story of a man who ultimately felt that he was being judged on 80 minutes of football a week, and on little else and has also had to fight hard to maintain his perspective. I’m not a rugby league expert but I’m fascinated by the discipline and the pressure that he put himself under, and what it takes to survive it. It’s a really good read. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Joe McKenzie, Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sally Hipworth has a book out called Mad Mabel.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yeah. Sally is an Australian writer. This I Think from
Memory is set in Melbourne and it's the story of
her name is Elsie, Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick. She's eighty one
years old and she's living a quiet life in a
small suburban street and when she discovers that one of
her neighbors has died in his house and he's a
guy who was never particularly nice to her, but she

(00:41):
reports it and no one thinks anything too sinister about
it until it's revealed that Elsie, who as I said,
is eighty one, as a child was known as Mabel
and she was the youngest person ever convicted in Australia
for murder, at which point, of course, she becomes a
person of interest to the police with this dead neighbor.
And when you hear the story of what she did

(01:02):
back in the day and why, it's very hard not
to feel sympathetic. And now that she's been outed and
the media have discovered where she lives, and of course
they're camping on her doorstep. She decides to tell her
story for the first time, and she lets a young
couple who are podcasters into her living room and they
come along and conduct a series of interviews and they

(01:22):
produce a YouTube documentary which goes Mad, in which she
gets the chance to tell her side of the story.
They call it Magnificent Mabel. This is a I found
it a really human story. The small community, the little
street that she lives in which she's a part of.
They're very disparate people that she lives amongst, but it
turns out there are some surprises amongst them. And this

(01:44):
is one of those books that has beginnings and endings
and it all ties up together in a very satisfying,
quite kind of way. I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
I think it's a great premise. I love the premise.
I'm going to be honest, I can kind of see
the TV show with film holding in front of my
eyes when you were sort of explaining, I was like, this.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Sounds like a great and some of the conversation and
the humor is quite cinematic in a way.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Okay, brilliant Mad Mabel. Sean Johnson perspective.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yes, who would have thought that I would be one
to commentate on a rugby league book.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, look, the other day you were telling me how
much you love the Ozzy Osbourne memory, which I memoir,
which I wasn't expecting.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, And I loved Tiger Woods's memoir and I loved
Lebron James. So yeah, I'm always interested in the people
behind the fame, and this is a really readable and
relatable story about the determination to become the best and
the work that it took to get there. Of course,
everybody listening will know that he's a rugby league legend,

(02:42):
and like all of those guys his career, his story
started at a very young age. He's retired now and
he's still only thirty five. And in the early days
he refelt it was all stacked against him because he
only weighed sixty eight kilograms and he was determined to
be able to get on the field and be the
best amongst some very heavy blokes.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
I could have taken him out.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
So do you know what his wonderful dad did. Yeah,
he put a fridge in his car and he stocked
it up with food and protein, drinks and things, and
Sean and his family lived up at Gulf Harbor for
people who know Auckland, that's up at the end of
the fung apo A Peninsula. And he had to drive
from either school or work all the way to Mount
Smart Stadium for trainings. So he had his fridge in

(03:23):
his car and he could bulk up as he went,
which I thought was really lovely. And there's some really
lovely descriptive passages in this book, like when he writes
about making that trip and how he felt transformed on
the journey from where he started as he slowly got
closer to the stadium which was going to be his place.
There's some really lovely bits in here. And it's a

(03:44):
book about the expectations that he put on himself and
of course everybody else put on him. And in the
end he realized that he was being judged on eighteen
minutes of game time a week, and as I said,
he's still only thirty five. What that could do to
a person, to your well being and the way you
see yourself and have to manage yourself with all of
that expectation. So I really like this and at he's

(04:07):
a great package. You get the sports story, but you
also get the story of a man who was brought
up with his brothers by his dad, who comes across
as a fantastic character, and they're very, very close. And
now that Sean has his partner and two little girls
of their own, he's a guy who really respects and
revers his family as much as he does the career

(04:28):
that he took on. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
I think this sounds fantastic and I'm king to pick
it up and flick through it myself. But it also
sounds like a great book for teenagers to read, Yeah,
especially ones who are thinking of maybe having a career
in sport. Yes.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
And he doesn't make any effort to hide how hard
it is to put in the work to get to
where you want to be.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
I love it. Thank you so much. Joan so mad,
Mabel by Sally Hepworth and Perspective by Sean Johnson will
took me extpect and see you then.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks He'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.