UK reviews:

‘Borne along by Kerninon’s long, joyful sentences (nimbly translated by Ruth Diver), it’s a winning account of her journey from reader to writer.’ — Francesca Carington, Tatler

‘A loose but very charming longform essay about writing and being a writer…In the anecdotal and at times very funny prose of A Respectable Occupation we follow Kerninon's childhood fascination with bookshops, her obsessive consumption and production of words' – Robert Greer, The Idler

‘A female manifesto for a writer’s life (...) a lyrical reminder of the hard (and indeed often unrelated) work it takes to be a wordsmith, which is justified daily in the joy of putting pen to paper and writing book after book.’ — Mia Colleran, The Irish Times

‘Instead of giving us a formative reading list, we are presented with her relationship with books: how to build a life around the daily consummation and production of words, and the visceral satisfaction that this provides. Life-time events are presented in terms of how they provide opportunities for writing (...) The work of writing is taken seriously - as work, as something which requires time and money, and for which sacred duty sacrifices must be made.’ — Jennifer Sarha, #RivetingReviews

French reviews:

‘Marvellously contagious.’ — Le Point

‘Julia Kerninon lays down sentences as definitive as dictums, impresses with her maturity of style and command of narrative. The reader plunges in, with the same voraciousness she puts into her writing.’ — ELLE (France)

‘A Respectable Occupation is at once breathless and poised, as if what we are being told was absolutely urgent, but choosing the right words to do so was primordial. Julia Kerninon sweeps us along from one place to another, upending temporality with a precision and delicacy that carry us away.’ — Le Devoir

Further praise for the author

‘Julia Kerninon has all the makings of an icon,’ Nathalie Azoulai, Marianne

‘She has already made her presence felt as one of France’s most promising writers,’ Jade Laurent, L’Express

‘Julia Kerninon is a huge talent,’ Jeanne de Ménibus, ELLE (France)

 UK reviews:

Small Press Radical Reads, Robert Greer, The Idler, March 2021
Best books of summer 2020, Tatler, 28 August 2020
#RivetingReviews: Jennifer Sarha reviews A Respectable Occupation by Julia Kerninon, Jennifer Sarha, European Literature Network, 15 July 2020