A Sense of Occasion

De: Brodie Crellin

Brought to you by Penguin.

A death in the (dysfunctional) family – can they hold it together long enough to organise the funeral?

Mary’s death is bad news – for her daughter Patch, ex-partner Robin, and niece Jude.

It will mean a funeral. But Patch can barely keep track of her mother’s journey from the hospital to the mortuary, let alone host a wake in her childhood home.

Robin wants to support her, but instead of assuming the role of responsible father, he heads to his former haunt: the lay-by where he used to meet farmers for sex.

Jude’s on her way from Naples, worrying less about Patch, her estranged cousin, and more about whether there’s a medicinal bag of cocaine in the boot. She hasn’t told the family she’s en route. This way, any lingering acrimony will be forgotten, and Jude’s past behaviour will be forgiven.

Thrown together in Mary’s tiny house, each of them is trying to feel something: to grieve, atone, join in, be better. But they rarely have one another’s best interests at heart, and as the connection between them twists and contorts, they lose sight of the rules and grasp towards anything that might make it all less painful.

Darkly funny, deeply entertaining, and intensely moving, A Sense of Occasion subverts and perverts your expectations to reveal the fractious desires that simmer beneath the surface of our lives.

© Brodie Crellin 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Reseñas de la Crítica

Crellin has a genius for tracking the internal logic behind all kinds of catastrophically bad behavior. A Sense of Occasion is a wonderful book, at once shrewd and ethereal. (Chris Kraus)

Crellin is an astonishing writer, their sentences ring like bells and are so sharp and perfect. This book is sexy, terrifying, keen and startling (Daisy Johnson)

An outstanding debut by a singular voice. A Sense of Occasion favours honesty over sentimentality, embracing the claustrophobic atmosphere of totally dysfunctional families. A rare, funny novel (Nicola Dinan)

Perfectly paced; sexy and intelligent and truly profound on the costs of living and performing one’s sexuality in public and private (Merve Emre)

So smart, often so funny, and incredibly moving, Brodie Crellin explores love, desire, family, and dynamics of power, care and dependence with total honesty. Brodie's amazing on the complex, often fraught relationships between the family and the individual, on the psychological asymmetries inherent to intimacy, and on the ways that reality can start to feel contingent on the presence of another person. Masterfully constructed, yet so vivid and absorbing that I frequently forgot it was constructed at all. A profound, immersive, visceral, tender, deeply accomplished and completely unique novel (Harriet Armstrong)

An immensely fun read in which prickly, awkward people do prickly, awkward things in such soft, funny, human ways that you cannot help but be charmed by them all. A delight! (Lizzy Stewart)

Unforgettable. . . Crellin explores the boundless complications of sexuality, desire and love with rigor, intelligence and humor. Here are characters and relationships which feel strange, distinctive and always true (Rachel Connolly)

A stylish debut, funny and fluent and surprising. Brodie Crellin is interested in the things we talk about, think about and do with our bodies to avoid squaring up to grief (Tom Lamont)

A Sense of Occasion is a magnificent debut, and a game changer. I can't remember the last time I read something so bold, tender, sexy and funny (Camilla Grudova)