52 pages • 1-hour read
The Last List of Mabel Beaumont
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Chapters 21-31Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, sexual harassment, and antigay bias.
Chapter 21 Summary
In early December, Mabel visits Reg Bishop to ask for help finding Dot. At his hot, impersonal bungalow, Reg recognizes Mabel’s given last name, says that he knew her brother, and agrees to search for Dot.
Back home, Mabel finds Julie, who shares that she and Martin have reconciled. Mabel borrows Kirsty’s phone under the pretense of planning a surprise party. She locates Kirsty’s mother’s number and invites her and her family to the party, lying when the mother asks if Kirsty wants them there. Later, Kirsty visits and asks to adopt Olly permanently. Mabel agrees but requests a few days to say goodbye.
Chapter 22 Summary
Days later at Patty’s house, Mabel locates the phone number of Patty’s daughter, Sarah. Julie announces that Martin will be home for Christmas, and Patty offers her house for Kirsty’s birthday party. Later, Mabel sends an anonymous text to Sarah, warning her about her partner, Geoff (though she has no evidence to do so; Mabel’s only motivation is to cure Patty’s loneliness by bringing her daughter back to live with her again). An online search for Dorothy Brightmore brings no results.
Driving to a dance class, Mabel spots a dejected Erin and invites her along. At the class, Mabel pairs with Erin, and they laugh through clumsy steps. Erin confides that she is heartbroken after a fight with her girlfriend, Hannah, who cheated on Erin. Mabel adds keeping an eye on Erin to her list.
Chapter 23 Summary
On Kirsty’s birthday, Mabel worries about her meddling while preparing at Patty’s house. Julie arrives and announces that Martin is moving back in. Kirsty enters, delighted by the surprise party.
At three o’clock, Kirsty’s estranged parents arrive—Sandy, her mother, and Tony, her stepfather—whom Mabel invited. Kirsty, deeply unhappy, confronts them in the kitchen, and Mabel admits that she sent the invitation.
Then, Patty enters with Kirsty’s baby, Dotty; Sandy and Tony now see their granddaughter for the first time. The doorbell rings again. Sarah arrives with her children, says that she has left Geoff, and asks to live with Patty again. The party becomes a tense family reunion.
Chapter 24 Summary
A few days later, Mabel takes Olly to Kirsty’s house to apologize for inviting her parents. Kirsty accepts the apology, and Mabel formally gives Olly to her.
Kirsty explains that after her father died when she was seven, her mother remarried in less than a year, and she has never accepted Tony as her stepfather. When Dotty wakes, Mabel observes the baby’s bond with Kirsty—something that Mabel finds both fascinating and alien since she has never wanted children. Before she leaves, Mabel says a private goodbye to a sleeping Olly, feeling the loss of her last link to Arthur.
Chapter 25 Summary
Without Olly, the house is quiet, and Mabel senses Arthur’s presence. Julie visits, looking withdrawn, but denies trouble with Martin. Mabel worries that her friends are drifting away. Reg calls with a lead: Catherine Emmett, Dot’s former neighbor. He offers to drive Mabel to see her the next day.
Later, Mabel sees Patty at a playground with her granddaughters. Patty looks happy but busy; she is noncommittal about meeting up with Mabel and the other women.
While walking home, Mabel remembers a sunset with a young Arthur just before they became a couple, a moment that had felt like a hopeful beginning.
Chapter 26 Summary
The next morning, Reg drives Mabel to the town of Overbury to meet Catherine. Catherine shares that Dot married Thomas Black in 1962; had two sons, John and William; and moved to Hampshire. Unfortunately, Catherine lost contact with Dot in the late 1990s.
On the drive back, Reg places his hand on Mabel’s knee, insinuating a sexual invitation and ignoring Mabel’s clear lack of reciprocation. She sits in shocked silence until they reach her house and then tells him never to touch her again. Reg is dismissive. Julie arrives during the confrontation, orders Reg to leave, and comforts Mabel.
Chapter 27 Summary
On Christmas morning, her first without Arthur, Mabel imagines him beside her. She finds gifts from her friends, including a necklace from Julie with the initials “MABD,” which Mabel does not understand.
Erin knocks on the door in tears, having fled her family after an afternoon of antigay remarks that she felt like she couldn’t tolerate any more. Mabel invites her in and offers the spare room. To steady them both, Mabel suggests Scrabble. Over hot chocolate, Erin shares her wish to study art and her hope for a loving future.
Chapter 28 Summary
That afternoon, Kirsty arrives with Olly, having left a tense family gathering. She brings a full Christmas dinner from her house, and she, Mabel, and Erin celebrate. Julie calls Mabel, hears the other women over the phone, and comes over, feeling left out. In the kitchen, she confides to Mabel her unhappiness with Martin, who has immediately fallen into old slobby habits upon moving back in. Julie explains that the necklace initials stand for “Mabel, Arthur, Bill, and Dot.”
Soon after, Patty calls, upset after a fight with Sarah, and the group invites her over too. The five women share stories and find comfort together. As the evening ends, Erin settles into the spare room.
Chapter 29 Summary
Julie finds little information online about Dorothy Black’s family, whose names are so commonplace that many people share them. Mabel recalls Catherine’s mention of Dot’s sons, John and William, and realizes that Dot named one after Bill. Erin says that she must go back home to her family soon—she never really explained to them that she left because she is a lesbian, so they believe that she is simply having a teenage tantrum. The prospect of her moving out saddens Mabel.
Patty arrives in tears, saying that Sarah accused her of sending the anonymous text about Geoff. Mabel confesses to Patty and Julie that she sent the message. She also admits that she engineered Julie’s reunion with Martin. Patty feels hurt but forgives her.
Chapter 30 Summary
Mabel goes to Patty’s house and apologizes to Sarah. Sarah accepts but says that she is returning to Geoff, though she will visit her mother more often. Mabel leaves feeling responsible and, for the first time, calls her friend “Patty” instead of “Patricia,” as Patty herself prefers.
Mabel walks to the graveyard and speaks to Arthur’s grave. A memory surfaces of her and Dot ditching Arthur and Bill at the cinema for a party. Bill was enraged, while Arthur was quietly amused. Mabel concludes that Bill’s anger would not have suited Dot and sees the past with new clarity.
Chapter 31 Summary
Weeks after Christmas, Julie visits. Mabel urges her to leave Martin if she is unhappy, but Julie resists. Kirsty arrives with Olly and Dotty and says that she is rebuilding ties with her parents; she adds that she and her partner, Ben, may get married. Finally, Kirsty mentions a new pregnant friend from yoga named Estelle.
Julie freezes since Estelle is the relatively uncommon name of the woman whom Martin left her for. When Kirsty describes Estelle as a tall redhead, Julie confirms that this is Martin’s affair partner and realizes that he must be the father of Estelle’s baby. Julie leaves abruptly to confront him, leaving Mabel and Kirsty in shocked silence.
Chapters 21-31 Analysis
Mabel’s quest for agency manifests as a series of misguided interventions, exploring the complexities of enacting a will that has been long suppressed. Her decision to secretly invite Kirsty’s estranged parents to a surprise party is a projection of her own regrets about her fractured relationships with Bill and Dot. Mabel justifies her deception with the belief that “[f]amilies belong together […] she’ll thank [her] in the end” (153), a statement that reveals her own longing for reconciliation. Similarly, her anonymous text to Patty’s daughter and her orchestration of Julie’s reunion with Martin are born from a desire to shape outcomes, as Mabel tries Confronting the Past to Forge a New Future. These acts of meddling are ethically fraught because Mabel does not take her friends’ wishes or preference into account and thus does not treat them as individuals with agency in their own right. The resulting pain and confusion—Kirsty’s public confrontation, Sarah’s temporary breakup, and Julie’s false hope—serve as a narrative corrective, demonstrating that authentic assistance cannot be rendered through manipulation.
The narrative deepens its exploration of The Weight of Secrets and the Freeing Nature of Truth by externalizing the threat of exposure through the character of Reg Bishop. Reg is a physical embodiment of the past that Mabel has tried to bury; his unsettling familiarity and veiled comments represent the anxiety of being known in a way that one has not consented to. His inappropriate physical advance toward Mabel is a violation rooted in the power that he believes his knowledge of her past affords him, an echo of the moment at Bill’s wake when Reg’s insinuations drove Mabel and Dot’s love deeper into secrecy. Reg functions as a foil to the supportive community of women that Mabel is building, highlighting the difference between knowledge used as a weapon and truth shared in a space of trust. The impromptu Christmas gathering, where five women seek refuge from family drama, becomes a sanctuary. In this space, their individual secrets and pains can coexist without judgment, creating a collective strength that sets the stage for future confessions. The novel is so eager to highlight the emotional and psychological benefits of truthfulness that the reader may feel that the ease with which Patty, Julie, Kirsty, and Sarah forgive Mabel’s lies is unrealistic—the novel puts its thumb on the scale to ensure that its message gets through.
Mabel’s list here stops being a solipsistic dwelling on her past and becomes a more inclusive and empathic representation of her present. The expansion from the singular goal to “[f]ind D” to include Mabel’s concerns about her friends—“Reunite Kirsty with her family,” “Keep an eye on Erin”—underscores its transformation from Arthur’s instruction into Mabel’s own tool for organizing her new life. The plot alternates between progress in the search for Dot, such as the information from Catherine Emmett, and the unfolding drama with her friends. This structural oscillation makes finding Dot the engine for Mabel’s contemporary transformation. The skills and courage that she develops through her new relationships are precisely what she needs to continue confronting her 60-year-old regret.
Mabel’s memories evolve from static scenes into tools for re-evaluating her past. A pivotal moment of insight occurs in the graveyard, a recurring symbol of communion with history, where she reconsiders the night when she and Dot abandoned Bill and Arthur at the cinema. She recalls Bill’s controlling fury and Arthur’s quiet amusement, leading her to realize that Bill “wasn’t the right man for [Dot]” (216). This reinterpretation is a fundamental shift in the narrative of her life. It dismantles the belief that Bill’s death was the sole tragedy that derailed their future, suggesting instead that the foursome’s dynamic was already flawed. This moment of clarity demonstrates a new capacity for critical self-reflection, moving beyond simple nostalgia to a more nuanced understanding of her choices. By actively re-examining her memories, Mabel begins to liberate herself from the deterministic grip of her past.
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