Book and Food Pairing: Mad Mabel and a Berry Pavlova

An 80-year-old woman trying to disappear quietly in her neighborhood sounds calm until you learn why everyone once called her Mad Mabel. I’m sharing my latest book and food pairing, and it starts with a real moment: when I try to branch out creatively, I sometimes spiral into “is this worthy?” thinking. So I’m leaning into what feels grounded and fun right now, a good story and something tasty to go with it.

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth is a laugh-out-loud, big-hearted mystery you can dip in and out of without it feeling heavy. Mabel has a childhood shadowed by suspicious deaths, a name that followed her for years, and even a murder conviction in her past. Now she’s 80, living under a different name, hoping no one looks too closely. That plan gets messy thanks to unexpected neighborhood events and a curious seven-year-old who refuses to ignore her. The result is part mystery, part character study, and part found-family warmth.

Because the book is set in Australia, I went searching for an Australian summer dish and landed on pavlova, the classic meringue dessert topped with whipped cream and fruit. We talk through the pavlova origin debate (Australia vs New Zealand), why it shows up at barbecues and summer Christmas gatherings, and what I learned from a BBC rabbit hole. 

The surprising truth about pavlova’s origins

I also walk through the practical steps of making a berry pavlova (Ina Garten style), plus my honest verdict on whether the time and effort are worth it and how to repurpose that incredible raspberry sauce.

Mixed Berry Pavlova Recipe | Ina Garten | Food Network

If you enjoy cozy mystery books, reading recommendations, Australian food traditions, and realistic home cooking tips, hit play and come hang out. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves books and baking, and leave a review. What book would you pair with your favorite summer dessert?

Transcript

Welcome And Creative Self-Doubt

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to Novel and Notch, where books, food, travel, and the art of living fully come together. So today I am doing another book in food pairing. I'm kind of stuck in this mode right now because anytime I think about talking to you about things outside of that, I begin to stress out and feel like what I'm sharing isn't worthy. And I'm struggling with that. So right now I'm sticking in my niche of books and food because that was kind of why I started this page, this podcast. And I'm feeling comfort there. And I know when I stop overthinking this and just kind of live where I currently am, then that's where the goodness is going to start to go.

Why I’m Doing Book Pairings

SPEAKER_00 1:07

So that is why I'm doing another book in food pairing. Um, and I hopefully you enjoyed these. I think they're fun, they're a little bit different, but I uh enjoy trying to find a way to put a book and a food

Mad Mabel Review And Vibe

SPEAKER_00 1:21

together. So the book that I read today is Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. And I love this. I thought it was a great book. I would give it probably a four and a half stars. I enjoyed it that much. Mad Mabel was a hoot. Uh, it was perfect to read during this time of year. It's a book that you can come in and out of. It's not taken too seriously. It is just filled with humor, mystery, and a lot of heart.

Plot Setup And Characters

SPEAKER_00 1:54

So it is about Mad Mabel. She is an 80-year-old woman who is trying to go unnoticed in her neighborhood. When she was a child, there was a lot of death, that questionable death around her. And it ended up having people, children in the neighborhood starting to call her Mad Mabel. And that name followed her for years. At some point in her childhood, she was convicted of murder. And now that she is 80, she is living in a quiet neighborhood near where she grew up. She goes by a different name, and she is trying to keep herself hidden. She doesn't, you know, really talk to a lot of the neighbors. She just kind of minds her own business. Well, due to some events that occur in the neighborhood, and an inquisitive seven-year-old little girl, she fears she is going to become exposed. This book combines mystery, a curmudgeon that you are going to fall in love with, some truly laugh out loud moments, and so much heart because of the relationship that occurs between this woman, some of these neighbors, and the seven-year-old child will have you smiling. I thought this was great.

Why Pavlova Fits This Story

SPEAKER_00 3:25

And I wanted to pair it with a Barry Pavlova. And if you're asking why, I will tell you. So I did a little rabbit hole situation, which um tends to be something I like to do. I like to look further into a situation. And I was looking because this book is set in Australia. I was trying to figure out like what type of dishes are Australian dishes. Um, because one of the things that they speak about in the book is this chicken and it's almost like a pot pie. And I just thought that doesn't feel very summery. So I could delay sharing this book with you all until the fall when I could make the dish that's stated in the story. But I really wanted to share it now. So I looked into, you know, like what are some Australian foods that are served in the summertime? And Pavlova came up. And what I learned was that Pavlova is the Australians claim that they created the Pavlova. And they serve this dessert at their barbecues during the summer. And summer for them falls around Christmas time. So the pavlova ends up being a Christmassy type of dessert that is served at these barbecues and um things. Australians try to claim that the pavlova was created by them when the Prima Ballerina Anna Pavlova went on tour in the early 1930s. But New Zealand also lays claim to this. And after reading a little bit more, there was an article in the BBC that I'll link to in the description. They actually found that the Pavlova, like meringue style cakes, went all the way back to the 18th century. So this is not something new, but the way I made it with the meringue base and whipped cream and fresh fruit on top is distinctively an Australian tradition. Now they usually use like passion fruit and summery fruits, but I used berries because I found a great recipe in uh barefoot contessa at home. And this one was served with berries. And I'm going to leave a link of the recipe that I made because I believe she shared it with the New York Times. Anna Garden shared it with the New York Times. So it is on the web. So I will put that in the description box for

Making Meringue And Berry Sauce

SPEAKER_00 6:10

you. When you make the meringue, I do want to be clear that this is honestly for me personally, I don't think I'll ever make this again. It's not that it's not good. It's just that it's time consuming and I don't feel like it was really worth the weight. So what you're going to do is you're going to need to make sure you have a piece of parchment paper and you're going to maybe put a circle. She said a nine-inch plate, the size of a nine-inch plate. Now, I don't know about you, but I could not find a nine-inch plate in my house. So I don't know where this nine-inch comes from. I think mine were like my salad plate was a seven and a half, and then my dinner plate was like a 10 or 11. So I don't know. That was my first, like kind of bone of contention was trying to find a salad or a plate that was nine inches. So I just kind of drew a circle around on this piece of parchment. And then you're going to flip that over so that the you know pencil line doesn't end up on the pavlova. You are going to whip egg whites, salt, sugar together until they form stiff peaks. And then you are going to add some vinegar, vanilla, and I used potato starch because I cannot use corn, but you could use cornstarch. You are going to then fold the vinegar, vanilla, and potato starch into that meringue and then lay it out on the parchment paper. You are going to cook this for an hour and a half at 180 degrees. And then you're going to turn off the oven. Do not open the oven because you want a dry atmosphere for it to dry out. And you're going to let it sit there for another hour. Once you take that out, basically all you do at that point is you're going to add whipped cream. So homemade whipped cream is cream, sugar, and vanilla. And you're going to spread that over top of the pavlova, the the hard whipped, I'm sorry, the hard meringue. You're going to add the whipped cream. And then I really loved the berry sauce that she made. So it was half a pint of raspberries. There was some sugar and then some raspberry jam. It's called for seedless. I had raspberry jam with seeds. So I just strained it and it was very simple to do. So you're going to heat that up so that the sugar melts all in with the jelly and everything. It becomes more of a liquidy form. You pour that into a container because you're going to have more than you need. And then you'll have strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. You're going to mix those all together in a bowl and then pour some of this liquid over top. Make sure that it has cooled down. So you'll want to make the sauce and the whipped cream earlier so that everything is cooled down when you put it over top of the meringues. But I loved how this turned out because it looked beautiful. But then it also, the raspberry sauce kind of was dribbled over the top. So it kind of looked like blood. So I thought that was fun. If you want to see a picture of the pairing, you can go to my Instagram, novel and Nosh, uh, to

Final Verdict Plus What’s Next

SPEAKER_00 9:47

see it. And um would I recommend the book? Yes, of course I would recommend the book. Would I recommend the recipe? You know, honestly, my kids ate it, my husband ate it, and they all said, yeah, it's good, but it honestly just tastes like whipped cream and berries. So no, I would not recommend it. Um, you know, it could be something that you want to try once, um, but I don't feel like the taste was any different than whipped cream and berries. I love the berries and the raspberry sauce on top. That I think sounds delicious. I was thinking about making um some homemade yogurt in my Instant Pot, and I think that that berry sauce with the berries would be so delicious in a yogurt. So you will have some extra, so just hold on to that and you could do something fun like that with it. Um, I also had a lot of extra whipped cream, but I just don't feel like the recipe was anything special and not one that I would make often. I probably would not make this at all again, but it was fun to try it and see. I've never made a Pavlova before, so it was fun to give it a try. I will leave everything in the description box below. And feel free to head to novelinosh.com. You can join the community where I'm hoping to get a book club started again or a book and bake club started again this fall. So head over there, join me over there, or head to my Instagram where you can see the pictures of me uh creating these food pairings and any of my uh recommendations along the way, book recommendations along the way. I hope you all have a wonderful day and make sure that you take time for yourself. Make that recipe that you never thought you'd make just for the fun of it, and enjoy just living a more full life in the everyday.