A Respectable Occupation

Julia Kerninon's nano-autobiography begins at five and a half years of age when, dressed in a leopard-skin coat, she made the decision to become an author. The memoir that unfolds is a tribute to writing; as a space for self-discovery as well as a 'respectable occupation'. The daughter of a pair of bohemian-bookworms, Kerninon grew up infected by their passion for literature. Opening with a pilgrimage to Shakespeare & Company, the book entwines the French and Anglo-Saxon traditions, reminding us of the value of European exchange.