Sipsworth

Sipsworth (2024) by Simon Van Booy tells the story of Helen Cartwright, a woman in her eighties who returns to her hometown in England after the deaths of her husband and her son. She is brokenhearted and shuns all human contact, and she spends her days watching television. However, one day, she accidentally brings a mouse into her house, and as she seeks a solution to this issue, she comes into contact with people who want to help her. In the process, Helen befriends the mouse, names it Sipsworth, and opens her heart to both the mouse and her new circle of friends. Reviewers have praised the novel for its life-affirming message and the beauty of its language.

This study guide refers to the 2024 David R. Godine Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness and death.

Plot Summary

Helen Cartwright is 83 years old. Her husband, Len, died of a heart attack, and her son, David, was killed in a car accident. They used to live in Australia, but three years ago, Helen moved back to her hometown in England. During this time, she isolated herself from other people, struggling with her grief over the deaths of her loved ones. She has no friends or acquaintances in town and spends her time either watching television or lost in reveries of the past. She is filled with despair and longs to die.

One Friday morning, Helen watches a neighbor set a fish tank out with his trash. She investigates and is intrigued to see the figure of a deep-sea diver in the tank. Years before, she bought a similar toy for David. Engulfed by memories, she brings the tank into her house. That night, she hears a soft, tapping noise in the house.

The next day, Helen spots a mouse inside the tank. She covers the tank with plastic film so the creature can’t get out. She pokes holes in the plastic before walking uphill to the hardware store in town. Helen chats with the shopkeeper, who sells her glue mousetraps. Back home, she sets the tank on the patio and takes off the wrap; she puts the glue traps inside by the patio door so the mouse can’t reenter her house. It rains that night, and she pictures the tank filling with water. She recalls how her father was rescued from the ocean by Spanish fishermen after his boat was torpedoed in World War II. Inspired by this memory, she goes out to the patio and overturns the tank, not wanting the mouse to drown.

On Sunday, Helen spots the mouse on the patio. She tries to shoo it away, but it opens and closes its mouth as if it is talking to her. That afternoon, she makes a new home for the mouse out of a clean pie box and puts some tissue and oat flakes inside. She places it and the mouse’s old box next to a hedge in her garden. She goes to bed, but the scream of a cat awakens her in the middle of the night. She goes outside, picks up the boxes, and puts them in her kitchen sink.

On Monday morning, she discovers the mouse sitting in her sink. Helen gives it a bottle cap filled with water. When she does her shopping, she buys nuts and strawberries for the creature. Back at home, she decides it is a boy. In bed that night, she realizes she can no longer die, as she has hoped to for so many years, because the mouse would be alone.

Helen calls a pet rescue service the next day, but they refuse to take wild animals. That afternoon, she watches her favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz. She puts the mouse inside a slipper and lets him sit with her on the couch to watch the movie. She decides to name him Sipsworth because he sips water delicately.

On Wednesday morning, Helen gets some books about pet mice at the library, meeting the friendly librarian and her son, Dominic. Back at home, she still intends to take Sipsworth to a shelter, but when she holds out a nut to him, he pulls himself into her palm. The power goes out, and Helen finds her way to the couch, where Sipsworth falls asleep on her lap. 

The power is back on Thursday morning. Helen returns to the hardware store to buy the mouse a new tank. The shopkeeper introduces himself as Cecil Parks and, hearing Helen’s name, announces that her father taught him to read when he was a teenager. He doesn’t have a fish tank but offers to pick one up and deliver it to her. Later, Cecil arrives at Helen’s house with the fish tank, and they chat. She puts the tank in front of the couch and places Sipsworth’s things inside. 

On Friday, Helen looks in on Sipsworth and finds him struggling to breathe. When the local vet refuses to see him, she calls the cardiopulmonary department of the local hospital. She says she is home with a patient who is having an acute respiratory attack. Then she calls a cab and goes directly to the hospital. In the cardiopulmonary wing, Helen demands supplies to treat her patient, showing an ID that proves she was once the head of pediatric cardiology at a hospital in Sydney. A surprised nurse, Kathy, recognizes Helen as a famous medical inventor. Kathy goes off to find the head surgeon, Dr. Jamal.

Impressed by Helen’s credentials, Dr. Jamal offers to get her the supplies she needs. Upon learning that the “patient” is a mouse, he is stunned but nonetheless helps her by procuring the supplies and driving her home. He tells her to build an oxygen chamber for the mouse with the oxygen tank he has loaned her. Then, he calls a veterinarian for exotic pets. The vet offers to send an assistant with antibiotics. While waiting for the mouse’s medicine, Helen calls Cecil and asks him to help her build the oxygen chamber for the mouse. He arrives with the necessary tools just as the vet’s helper comes with the medicine.

On Saturday, Helen wakens to find Sipsworth having another attack. She puts him in the oxygen chamber, and he revives. When he crawls into her hand, she kisses him and gives him medicine on her fingers. After checking in with the librarian for more books and taking a call from Cecil, Helen realizes she feels as if she’s ready to start her life over again. At dinner, she tells Sipsworth they will weather any coming storm as a family, and before bedtime, she tells him not to fear death because David and Len will be waiting for him on the other side.

On Sunday, Cecil, Jamal, the librarian, and Dominic all show up on Helen’s doorstep. She has slept in until the afternoon but answers the door, feeling dizzy and numb in one arm. Sipsworth escapes while Dominic is playing with him on the patio, and Helen suffers a heart attack soon after. Two days later, she wakes up at the hospital to learn that Dr. Jamal has performed cardiac surgery on her. 

When she is discharged from the hospital, Dr. Jamal drives Helen home. She sits alone, mourning Sipsworth’s departure. Early on Friday, she hears a light tapping noise. It is Sipsworth, pawing at the patio door to come inside.