Pride and Preston Lin

The ever-popular modern Jane Austen retelling gets a thoughtful spin in Dudley’s (Miranda at Heart) latest. The well-known Pride and Prejudice story is transported to a Chinese American community in the Bay Area for this version, with hardworking, bold Lissie Cheng at the center of the tale. While working in her family’s restaurant, Lissie accidentally serves shellfish to an allergic customer, putting her and the restaurant in the crosshairs of the arrogant Stanford doctoral student Preston Lin. In classic enemies-to-lovers style, Lissie and Preston find their paths crossing in a variety of surprising situations and begin to reluctantly soften toward one another as they begin to understand each other better. The novel is clearly Austen-inspired, but Dudley deftly translates the timeless tale in a way that feels authentic to the setting. Not every character or plot point is depicted exactly from the original novel, giving readers enough to keep their interest even if they’ve read several of the popular retellings.