Mrs Hopkins

by Shirley Barrett

A witty and poignant final novel from acclaimed author and filmmaker Shirley Barrett about what destroys us, what sustains us, and what we carry from one world into the next.

'Engaging, original and full of curiosity and wit ... I didn't want it to end.' Asher Keddie

'Bursting with life ... I was gripped from the first chapter.' Debra Oswald

'A subversive, dark delight.' Kat Stewart

'Barrett is a masterly world-builder.' New York Times

On a rainy night in 1871, an idealistic schoolmistress arrives on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour. Mrs Hopkins doesn't know what to expect from the notorious Biloela Industrial School for Girls, but nothing could prepare her for what she encounters inside the high sandstone the conditions are dismal, the rules are largely conceptual, and the girls spend most of their time finding creative ways to outsmart the adults.

Very quickly, Mrs Hopkins realises that noble intentions won't be enough to plough through the chaos around her. An unconventional school requires unconventional methods, and Mrs Hopkins is going to have to find her own ways to reach her lively, lost charges. But her own ghosts have followed her to Cockatoo Island, and refuse to stay hidden for much longer.

This witty, surreal and poignant final novel from Shirley Barrett is about what destroys us, what sustains us, and what we carry with us from one world into the next.

Genres: Historical Fiction

448 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 4, 2024

About the author

Shirley Barrett is best known for her work as a screenwriter and director. Shirley's first film, Love Serenade won the Camera D'Or (Best First Feature) at Cannes Film Festival in 1996. The script for her film South Solitary won the Queensland Premier's Prize (script) 2010, the West Australian Premier's Literary Prize (script) 2010, and the West Australian Premier's Prize 2010. Rush Oh! is Shirley's first novel. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

Reviews

[Sheree | Keeping Up With The Penguins · Rating 3 out of 5]

The character of Mrs Hopkins should have been what carried this novel, but her characterisation was spotty. She veered wildly from a Mary Poppins-type to a Dickensian hypocritical hard-arse, and back again with a few stops in Jane Eyre territory along the way. That might have been an attempt at complexity, but unfortunately it didn’t quite land.

My full review of Mrs Hopkins is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.

[Karen ⊰✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it difficult to engage in books where all of the characters are unlikeable and that was the case with Mrs Hopkins.
I enjoyed the HF aspect with the time and setting, but if it wasn’t for this being selected by my book club for our current read I would not have continued past about 20%.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published posthumously, Mrs Hopkins is the final novel from acclaimed author, television writer, and award-winning filmmaker, Shirley Barrett.

Inspired by historical record, the novel opens in 1871 as Mrs Hopkins arrives on Cockatoo Island to take up a position as a schoolmistress. The Biloela Industrial School for Girls, which until recently housed British convicts, is now home to eighty or so young girls, aged from 18 months to eighteen years, who have been ‘rescued’ from neglect or abandonment and remanded to the Asylum in the midst of Sydney Harbour to train as domestic servants. The well intentioned Mrs Hopkins is determined to care for and educate her new charges, certain that the provision of affection, moral example, and encouragement can redeem even the most intractable girl, but she is unprepared for the desperate conditions of her new position.

Mrs Hopkins is an odd and somewhat inconsistent character. Of indeterminate age, though likely in her 40’s, she’s had a difficult life marked by poverty, misuse, illness, and grief at losing her adored only daughter, yet retains a naivety that leaves her susceptible to flattery and praise. She is subservient yet ambitious, pious yet exhibits morally questionable behaviour, I think she’s a little mad really, and the circumstances at Biloela are definitely detrimental to her mental health.

I really didn’t find this book to be witty as described, but there is some humour with a surreal edge, mostly I think to highlight the hypocrisy of the School’s goal when pitted against the girls experiences in it. Superintendent Crabback for example is an absurd figure, a weak man wholly lacking in self awareness, and the girls are generally smarter and more worldly than their supervisors.

Where Mrs Hopkins really shines is in delivering an incredibly vivid atmosphere. The buildings are dilapidated; rations are miserly; the staff are overwhelmed; and the girls, some of whose personalities are based on real Biloela ‘students’, are wild. Having visited Cockatoo Island I am somewhat familiar with the physical setting, but I found it easy to visualise the story as a whole, including the characters, as might be expected given Barrett’s experience in TV and film.

I didn’t love this novel but I did find it engaging, and the history upon on which it’s based is intriguing.

[Michael Lever · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Dickensian plot with all the cartoonish characters of Dickens, but without the depth or richness of text.

[Dymocks Indooroopilly]

Shirley Barrett’s final novel does not disappoint! The titular Mrs. Hopkins arrives on Cockatoo Island in 1871, the newly appointed schoolmistress at Biloela Industrial School for Girls. She has her work cut out for her; facing utterly dismal conditions and chaotic charges, let alone her own past from which she cannot escape! A poignant, worthwhile read.

[Clare Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading about the Biloela places for neglected girls was sad, tragic and demonstrated extreme treatment of the girls. Being in the 1870s on Cockatoo Island it certainly showed the poverty and attitudes of the times. At times it was humorous but I found it hard to read and hard to cope with the tragedy of both the girls and their minders.

[Michelle Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a fan of historical fiction, social history and I was unaware of this industrial school in Sydney harbour.

[Susan Wilson]

I can’t decide whether I think this is a good read or not. I definitely enjoyed reading it but was left at the end feeling puzzled about what the point was.

What did I enjoy?
The book’s namesake is a unique and truly memorable character. She’s pious and rebellious, kind and cruel, oblivious and self-aware. To say she is complex would be an understatement. I don’t even think she is particularly likeable but at times I couldn’t help myself but to smile at her.
It’s historical novel and I enjoyed learning about the cruelty of Biloela, particularly confining young girls in such a harsh environment, even when they are simply vulnerable due to poverty or lack of decent parents.

On the flip side, there is little to no plot, what there is seems chaotic, and it ends abruptly. Mr Crabback’s wife coming and going is weird, the arrival of food seems out of nowhere. Some of the language is also awkward, and the girls not particularly believable.

It’s the character-driven piece with Mrs Hopkins that I liked and the lack of any plot that resolved itself that I didn’t.

[Vivi Widodo · Rating 4 out of 5]

One rainy night in 1871, Mrs Hopkins arrived on Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour, for her job as a school mistress at Biloela Industrial School for Girls. It's not a job for a faint of heart, that's for sure. The girls are pretty wild, no obedience to any rules, but they are just unfortunate girls who were born in poverty and just need a bit of kindness and sympathy.
How will Mrs Hopkins manage the chaos around her?

This is the final book written by Shirley Barrett before she died of cancer in 2022.
A story inspired by a true story of Biloela Industrial School. I love the writing style, and the way she described the setting is so vivid that I feel present in the premises. It's such a moving story and left me wanting to know more of The Biloela Industrial School (1871-1877). There's a lot to learn about this history back in 1871.

[Elisa Kay]

This book started off well. I was surprised to find it had some explicit scenes. It follows the lives of girls at Biloela Industrial School. Despite many interesting events happening throughout the text, the book fell flat at its conclusion.

[Anne Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once described by The New York Times as “a pragmatic Australian with an offbeat take on the world”, the late Shirley Barrett, in “Mrs Hopkins,” has taken a leap back in time to show us a world best described as quirkily Dickensian.

Set in 1871 on Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour, the story follows the misadventures of idealistic schoolmistress Mrs Hopkins, appointed to bring educational enlightenment to the wayward girls incarcerated at Biloela Industrial School for Girls. Life has not been kind, either to Mrs Hopkins or her charges, and this venture will prove inventively calamitous for everyone involved. Biloela is a hell hole that makes Oliver Twist’s workhouse look like a five-star hotel, its rebellious occupants expert in subverting even the most draconian restraints. Mrs Hopkins’ faltering authority is further undermined by malicious colleagues, a lecherous superintendent as ill-equipped to bring order to the chaos as she is, and a cast of ghostly presences from her past who, just when she thinks things couldn’t get worse, materialise to torment her.

Crafted with a deft, satirical and wildly creative flair, Barrett’s characters are vivid, poignant and often hilarious. It’s a story that entertains from first page to last. Perhaps not surprisingly, given that Barrett was an award-winning filmmaker as well as author, the book has a very cinematic quality. For anyone familiar with her film “South Solitary”, themes that resonate there of isolation, loneliness and battling against overwhelming odds, are echoed in this book.

Originally published in Good Reading Magazine May issue

[Fiona Brodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't really enjoy this book but did finish it. Found it hard to relate to the characters and it was all a bit dismal. Was horrified to read afterwards that such a place did exist

On a rainy night in 1871, an idealistic schoolmistress arrives on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour. Mrs Hopkins doesn't know what to expect from the notorious Biloela Industrial School for Girls, but nothing could prepare her for what she encounters inside the high sandstone the conditions are dismal, the rules are largely conceptual, and the girls spend most of their time finding creative ways to outsmart the adults. Very quickly, Mrs Hopkins realises that noble intentions won't be enough to plough through the chaos around her. An unconventional school requires unconventional methods, and Mrs Hopkins is going to have to find her own ways to reach her lively, lost charges. But her own ghosts have followed her to Cockatoo Island, and refuse to stay hidden for much longer.

[Jeannie · Rating 2 out of 5]

As noted by other reviewers the basis of the book has the potential to reveal a little known story about detainment and quite brutal treatment of destitute girls in 1870’s Sydney. Setting is Cockatoo Island and former convict barracks. The author’s notes at the end of the book were a better read than the body of the story. While easy enough to read, the behaviour and development of characters and the storyline were quite variable and often implausible, I wonder whether the author would have made further edits if she had been able to complete these before her death. Ended up skimming to the end from half way. The historical basis for the book it worth understanding but this book does not tell the story well.

[Merceiam · Rating 3 out of 5]

An over the top story but the author explained she wished to draw attention to the horrors that occurred there, and this was her way to make amends.
I found the more incredulous scenes a little irritating at times but I guess the book has at least piqued my interest. I am now aware of another shameful aspect of Australia's history- the young girls, treated like prisoners, who were forced to live on Cockatoo Island (Sydney, NSW) in the 1800s.

[Unseen Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of Mrs Hopkins from Allen & Unwin Australia to review.

Rating of 3.5.

I published a short review of this book in the Canberra Weekly on 13 June 2024:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2024/06/16/...

For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incongruously and despite its subject matter, this is an enjoyable book about the horrors of Biloela Industrial School for Girls situated on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour and of Mrs Hopkins who arrives in 1871 with her baggage and her aims of putting things right. Barrett’s book is both horrifying and humourous and highly readable.

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found very little to like about this book. The characterisation seemed more caricature than anything else, although I did find the setting interesting and will do more (non-fiction) reading about Biloela.

[Denise Tannock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bookclub book January 2025.
Enlightening book about living conditions for impoverished young girls on Cockatoo Island in the late 1800s. Horrible place for them to "better" themselves as food was often rotten, discipline was hard, and clothes, bedding and care were scarce.

[Chris Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found it very challenging and disturbing.

[Jo Budden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mrs Hopkins, who appears fairly unhinged due to the loss of her illegitimate daughter, is employed as School Mistress to the girls incarcerated in Biloela, on Cockatoo Island.

[Anna Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* A dark, quirky tale set in 1871 at the Biloela Industrial School for Girls on Cockatoo Island, Sydney.

[Sheree Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Favourite book of mine since I started reading regularly.

[Casey]

DNF at approx 20%
Found it a bit frustrating.

[Magpie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*