It’s universally known that a good enemies-to-lovers story never gets old. 

Among the most famous literary pairs in this genre are Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. This classic tale of overcoming first impressions, differences, and miscommunication has been retold countless times. It’s so ubiquitous that even if you haven’t read the original, like me, you likely know the ups and downs of their journey to happily ever after.

One of the most recent retellings is Pride & Preston Lin by Christina Hwang Dudley. While modern-day Austen adaptations are common, Hwang Dudley’s novel stands out by bringing the beloved story into the world of Asian America. Following Lissie Cheng and Preston Lin, the novel gives readers a glimpse into the Bay Area’s Chinese American community — where Hwang Dudley was born and raised before she settled in Bellevue, and where society can be as hierarchical as the English ton.

I recently had the chance to speak with Hwang Dudley, who has previously written and self-published Regency romances under the name Christina Dudley. We discussed the many versions of Pride and Prejudice — from Fire Island to Wishbone, my personal introduction to the story — Asians in historical romance (or rather, the lack thereof), and other classic stories she might want to tackle from her unique perspective.

 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

 

Samantha Pak: Have you always written romance?

Christina Hwang Dudley: I dabbled a little in women’s fiction. I wrote one ridiculous paranormal romance. I like writing a happy ending.

A book like Pride & Preston Lin, I feel like this was its moment. Even if I had sat down and physically written the book 10 years ago, it couldn’t have gone anywhere until there started to be this groundswell of books that were not just romance books by white people. But now there’s this whole thing!

 

SP: I’m a longtime romance reader, so I know exactly what you’re talking about in terms of it being a historically very white genre.

CHD: And now suddenly, it seems like romance is at the forefront, publishing the most cutting-edge stuff in terms of (stories by and about) people who haven’t been heard from before. So, it’s an exciting field to be in.

 

SP: Yes, it’s romance and it’s YA. Those are the two genres that are “taking the risk” of hearing other people’s stories that haven’t always been heard.

CHD: I am old enough that it wasn’t even a question that occurred to me. I read all the standard “girl growing up” books. I didn’t read a book by an Asian American author until college — and it was assigned to me. It was Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior. My generation, it did not even occur to me to think, “Where are people who look like me?” I just read what was in front of me. 

 

SP: Before Pride & Preston Lin, you’d mostly written historical romance, right?

CHD: Yes. Which is everyone playing dress up, right? I love Jane Austen. And like a lot of people who love Jane Austen, you write Austen-y books. I have been, for the past 10-plus years, writing Regency romance — a hugely popular, hugely crowded genre. 

One day across Twitter (now X), I saw a post saying that new publishing company Third State Books was looking for AA+PI stories. I just cold emailed them and said, “Do you guys consider unagented manuscripts?” And they wrote back and said yes, because they were trying to right some of the wrongs in the past around representation (in publishing). So I’m like, “Cool, I have this idea.”

 

SP: With your historical romances, were you writing Asian characters?

CHD: No. Completely straight-arrow Regency. Unless you subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on Instagram or something, you probably had no idea that I was Asian.

 

SP: People make the argument that there were no Asian people present during that historical period. Were there?

CHD: I learned, yes (there were Asian people in Regency England). With all the shipping and trade, there were of course lascars (sailors) from India and from East Asia, who came and worked the ships, and some of them ended up settling in places like Bristol. So, I thought about that. You could have a random Asian guy who worked on a ship, but then he would be so low class that it becomes a reverse Cinderella story — even if (the female protagonist) is middle class.

I have discovered readers of historical romance fall into two camps. One is, “We are really just playing dress up. Do whatever you want, as long as everyone’s wearing the right costume.” But I had begun in the traditional historical romance, which is, “Were there Asian people there? I got to look it up. I can’t use that word (in this story). It’s American.”

With Pride & Preston Lin, I’m interested to see how much of my reader base will actually make the double jump. Because it’s jumping to contemporary and it’s jumping to non-white characters. 

 

SP: But also, I think having Jane Austen as the source material, people are more willing to read retellings.

CHD: I was just thinking about this. She has reached the stage where she gets the “Shakespeare treatment.” More power to her, because now people are like, “It’s set in outer space! I don’t care! I just want to read the bare bones of that plot again, and again.” She has soared to the level where you can play around with it.

Pride & Preston Lin might bifurcate my reader base and turn into one side that is like, “Oh, yeah, do whatever. As long as it’s kind of Austen-y.” And one side that’s like, “No, I want the traditional and original.” It’s fun to experiment with both. I would love to do Jane Austen in outer space!

 

SP: Why did you pick to do Pride and Prejudice?

CHD: My favorite Jane Austen is Persuasion. But I knew Pride and Prejudice is “the one.” I love the story. It’s probably my second favorite. But with a business eye, I thought, “This has a wider appeal.”

 

SP: If you were to do another Jane Austen retelling, which story would you go for?

CHD: Probably Persuasion. I’ve also thought about Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Brontë). It’s been done less and I love Jane Eyre as well.

 

SP: Where did you get the idea to have Pride & Preston Lin be set in the swimming world? 

CHD: Obviously, Preston has to be the golden boy, right? He could have been a baseball player, but my own kids did competitive swimming. It was fun to take this whole world that I already knew and just put my characters in it.

Pride & Preston Lin was a really personal book to me because it has so many elements of my life. I sent Lissie to my high school. The family’s restaurant is based on a restaurant I grew up going to. Preston’s mom is a real estate agent, and if you go into the Bay Area, you will find this one lady, she’s on the grocery carts. She’s everywhere. Big deal real estate agent. It’s full of Easter eggs.

 

SP: How was writing contemporary versus historical?

CHD: This book was, in many ways, so much easier to write. One of the things that is like pulling teeth for me is figuring out my plot arc. Here, I knew that certain things had to happen. So that was faster.

When I write Regency, because the fans can be such sticklers, they don’t want Americanisms. So, I have to sit there with the online Oxford English Dictionary. I’ve had my hand slapped a couple times. So, now I’m paranoid and I’m checking everything.

 

SP: How was it to write about Asian characters?

CHD: It was fun because I could pull in stuff from my experience. The fact that Lissie’s Mandarin is so lame is taken from me. My parents divorced when I was 7, but even when I was little, they didn’t speak Chinese at home. I only heard it when I was visiting my grandma. The Chinese that I still speak and understand is totally “grandma Chinese.” You know, “Are you cold? Have you eaten? I’m gonna spank you. Go put on socks.” This is stuff I can say and understand.

I remember when I went to college, my roommate, who was San Francisco Chinese, had an experience that was so different from mine. Obviously, no book can be completely representative. There’s a range of experiences. Lissie reflects more of mine.

 

SP: What was your favorite thing about writing this story?

CHD: I could just relax into it and just write dialogue. I like to hear dialogue and not have to worry about it. And I wrote about places I knew. Coming from a genre where I have to research, research, research, it was just a lot of fun not to have to.