Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 75(3) August 2025
Book Review
Lady Mabel's Gold
by Simon Caldwell.
Publ: Gracewing
Reviewed by Dr Pravin Thevathasan
According
to a Wigan legend, the ghost of Lady Mabel appears in the forest in
atonement for the bigamy she committed while her husband was awa
y fighting in the Crusades. The author of this highly readable book has
intertwined this story with a contemporary crime thriller. Journalist
Jenny Bradshaigh (the surname has links with the legend) feels she is a
failure. Her story about a raid on a Crusader's grave has been rejected.
But then there is a murder and burglary at a second vault leading her to
investigate a criminal gang which is exploiting trafficked children to
find treasure. This is her biggest scoop. The criminals are looking for
treasure they believe Sir William, Lady Mabel's husband, brought back from
the Crusades for her.
Is there such a thing as a Catholic novel? I believe there is. Even someone as un-Catholic in his personal life as Grahame Greene wrote some splendid Catholic novels. That is because he was interested in objective truth. Caldwell shares a similar interest in truth. In his first novel, he examined the topic of euthanasia, a topic he has an in-depth knowledge of. In this his second book, he shows an equal degree of knowledge about human trafficking.