Mady Barnard is a thirty-three year old unmarried woman, who still lives with her mother…

However, it cannot go unnoticed that “Bad luck’s been on her even since she was born” .

Ever since then, her difficulties, combined with her unfriendly temperament, have become a favourite topic of conversation in the local community…

The Women’s League, in particular, can’t stop discussing Mady’s life, with their enthusiastic gossiping over regular cups of tea making it all too-clear that traditional village life is full of secrets and rumours.

But then a trip to Bristow results in an unlikely relationship forming between Mady and a local Welshman and no one is quite sure what the future has in store for them…

And soon flooding and forest fires disrupt family harmony and despite everything, the idea of community has never felt so strong, or as necessary.

Empathy and grievance are combined as each family tells of their distressing events and before long, marriage, birth and death connect them together.

Upon Several Occasions is an emotional literary tale, full of lively characters and creates a portrait of a community bound together.

Elizabeth Berridge (December 1919 – December 2009) was a novelist and critic. Born in London, where she was partly educated here, she later moved to Geneva. Berridge won the Yorkshire Post Novel of the Year Award, in 1964 for Across The Common.