The Last List of Mabel Beaumont 

by Laura Pearson

★★★☆☆

The Last List of Mabel Beaumont is a gentle, easy-to-read novel that quietly sneaks up on you with its emotional weight. At 85, Mabel finds herself widowed after a long marriage—grieving not just the man she shared her life with, but also the life she never got to live. What follows is a subtle, heartfelt journey of self-discovery, late-life friendship, and the bittersweet realisation that it’s never too late to be yourself—just perhaps a bit more complicated.

This is very much a straight person’s introduction to older lesbians: no big drama, no flag-waving, nothing to scare the horses. Mabel's exploration of her hidden past and identity is handled with restraint and warmth. There’s a refreshing honesty in hearing an older woman’s voice so clearly—her regrets, her memories, her quiet resilience.

Along the way, she meets a cast of unexpected friends, forming connections that help her breakthrough the limitations society has placed on women “of a certain age.” It gently highlights the narrow lanes women were once expected to walk and the cost of straying from them.

While not earth-shattering, it’s touching and quietly political in its own way. A good pick for those who prefer their fiction with a soft landing and a hint of something deeper beneath the surface.

Review by Unzipping the Velvet Group

Unzipping the Velvet is a social group for lesbian and bi women exploring our representation in books, films, plays, music and more. The group meets on Tuesday of the month. 7.30pm at Storyhouse, Hunter Street, Chester CH1 2AR.