Mad Mabel
Cut along the dashed lines and pass the cards around the table.
Where did you curl up to read this one, and did it become a book you looked forward to returning to?
What was the first feeling that washed over you when you met Mabel? Comfort, curiosity, protectiveness?
Mabel keeps her past tucked away like a keepsake in a drawer. Is there a small, harmless secret of your own you've never told anyone, and what does it mean to you to hold it close?
The book invites us to imagine an elderly neighbour with a whole hidden life. Has there been an older person in your world whose real story surprised you, in a way that made you soften toward them?
Which scene felt the most like a hug, the kind of moment you wanted to reread before turning the page?
Hepworth writes ordinary Australian domestic life so warmly. What small, homey detail in the book made you feel like you were right there in the room?
Without giving anything away, how did your feelings about Mabel shift by the end, and did the book leave you feeling forgiving, tender, unsettled, or something harder to name?
If you could sit across a kitchen table from Mabel with a pot of tea, what would you gently want to ask her, and what do you think she'd need you to hear?