/ Bestselling author Kirstin Chen on the regenerative gift of time: her hit third novel Counterfeit explores the Asian-American female experience … and she says ‘a book takes as long as it takes’

Dec 29 , 2022

Meet the author of the New York Times bestseller Counterfeit, Kirstin Chen. Photo: Sarah Deragon

XXIV 2022

Originally from Singapore, The New York Times bestselling author Chen studied at Stanford University and her third book was a Reese’s Book Club pick – on par with Oprah’s Book Club

She starts her day with meditation and yoga and cooks after work – a process she has come to love the way she adores her Patek Philippe Aquanaut, which was passed down from a beloved aunt

Carl Sagan, the late American scientist and author, once described books as “proof that humans are capable of working magic” – recognising their unique ability to place a reader in the mind of a writer, possibly dead for thousands of years, breaking through the shackles of time. For Kirstin Chen, author of the recent hit novel Counterfeit, time’s connection to writing is less fanciful, more personal.

“I am a slow writer. It takes me four to five years to write a book,” she says. “When I was younger I was always in an incredible hurry. I felt that if I did not publish right this second, I never would. Now, I understand that a book takes as long as it takes.”

Chen’s third novel, Counterfeit, is ostensibly about two women who attempt to hustle their way to riches with a counterfeit handbag business, but becomes a tale about all the other fakery in and around their lives. The time she spent writing and rewriting paid off when it became the June 2022 pick for Reese’s Book Club, a sure-fire guarantee of massive sales on par with Oprah’s Book Club.

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen became the June 2022 pick for Reese’s Book Club. Photo: Handout

“I remember that it was late morning on an ordinary weekday when I saw my editor’s name flash on my mobile phone – I was sure she’d called me by accident,” she recalls. “When I got her on the phone, she blurted, ‘You’re the Reese pick!’ It was the hardest, best secret I’ve ever had to keep.”

Now an established New York Times bestseller, Chen’s work investigates the Asian and Asian-American experience from a female perspective. Originally from Singapore, she moved to the United States when she was 15 and studied comparative literature and creative writing at Stanford University.

The success of Counterfeit is proof to her that with time comes not only improvement, but even regeneration: “I’ve been lucky to have had the freedom to write whatever interests me. Neither my agent nor my editors have ever pushed me to pursue particular topics or genres for book sales. I set out to stretch myself as a writer with each new book – to research new subjects and to experiment with new techniques,” she adds. “At the end of my career, I hope to be able to look back and say that I truly did get better with each subsequent book.”

Author Kirstin Chen. Photo: Sarah Deragon

For a writer who’s only just into her forties, that promises many more excellent reads. But even if a project doesn’t go to plan, she says she has learned to accept her writing on its own merits. “I can’t say there’s anything I would go back and change. Part of being an artist is having to let go of your work, making peace with the fact that someday you’ll look back on it and wish you’d done some things differently,” Chen concludes.

Is that regret, or a sign of growth?

Kirstin Chen, author