Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta have been writing fiction together since they first met in 2013. They are now married and live in Berlin, where they write and study. Originally from Australia, Mikaella was highly commended in the 2019 Bridport Short Story Prize and shortlisted in the 2019 Galley Beggar Press Prize. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the TLS, and the LA Review of Books, amongst others. Onjuli is British and was longlisted in the 2020 Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize, as well as publishing non-fiction in the Billfold and Daddy Magazine.
A pure delight! Effortlessly cool, razor sharp, and crazy fun - I couldn't put it down. It is Notting Hill for 2021, an absolute crowd pleaser -- Taylor Jenkins Reid Escapist, suspenseful, razor sharp and very unusual. I loved the chemistry between the two protagonists and flew through the book because I was dying to know what happens -- Frances Cha An absolutely stellar debut with tension that crackles and prose that sings, The View Was Exhausting is the complex, Hollywood love story we've all been waiting for. Clements and Datta have crafted a book that's as heartfelt and earnest as it is sharp and surprising - I couldn't get enough -- Emily Henry Deft, funny and tender, The View Was Exhausting is as smart as it is swoon-worthy - this is exactly the book you should be reading right now -- Julia Armfield A glittering, swoon-worthy love story that's also about the intersections of power, representation, fame and privilege. It's funny and warm and gorgeously written and I'm calling it now as the beach read of the summer or, if we're all stuck inside, the escapist read of the summer, because reading this I was totally swept away -- Jane Healey A book to read in the sun with a glass of wine and nothing else to do all day. Fun, sexy and totally gripping -- Laura Kay A sexy, scorching treat - fresh and ultra modern, I devoured it -- Victoria Gosling I read it all in one morning and couldn't put it down once . . . The View Was Exhausting is enormously sophisticated, tension held like a net, as it slowly holds the reader closer and closer to a fire, and I laughed many times. It's an absolute tour de force, and Win is now one of my new favorite protagonists ever -- Tamsyn Muir Sweeps you up into the tilt-a-whirl of Hollywood relationships, and what happens when the line between fake and real begins to blur. This richly drawn romance is, crucially, also a journey through the unjust rules forced upon women - especially women of color - who dare to play the fame game. It's timely, touching, and a tantalizing love story -- Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (aka The Fug Girls)