Sunshine Nails
A Novel
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- €15.99
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- €15.99
Publisher Description
This “insightful, moving story with striking depth” (Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author) follows a Vietnamese Canadian family in Toronto who will do anything to protect their no-frills nail salon after a new high-end salon opens up—even if it tears the family apart.
Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have built a comfortable life for themselves in Toronto with their family nail salon. But when an ultra-glam chain salon opens across the street, their world is rocked.
Complicating matters further, their landlord has jacked up the rent and it seems only a matter of time before they lose their business. They enlist the help of their daughter, Jessica, who has just returned home after a messy breakup and a messier firing. Together with their son, Dustin, and niece, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. Relationships are put to the test as the line between right and wrong gets blurred. Debbie and Phil must choose: do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon?
“Sharp, witty, and warmhearted, [Mai] Nguyen’s debut tackles gentrification, small business ownership, prejudice in the workplace, and—most importantly—the depth of familial ties, and the power of a good manicure” (Shelf Awareness).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nguyen debuts with a glittering story of a family nail salon in Toronto. Matriarch Debbie Tran absentmindedly clicks on a one-star review of her business, Sunshine Nails, which sends her into a chaotic shame spiral about the quality of her English and of her own "unkempt" nails, both subjects of the unsatisfied customer's blistering screed. Making matters worse, a slick salon chain named Take Ten opens a store across the street, riding a wave of gentrification in the neighborhood. Debbie, desperate to compete with the new salon, recruits her daughter, Jessica, who's recently returned home after a breakup, to help turn Sunshine Nails around. Debbie also starts spying on Take Ten bigwig Savannah Shaw, paranoid that Savannah is sabotaging her. Meanwhile, Debbie's husband, Phil, is up to his own shenanigans, securing a business loan from a sketchy associate, prompting readers to wonder how far the Trans will go to hold on to their legacy and whether they'll tarnish it in the process. Nguyen imbues her characters with humanity and nuance, making hay from all their imperfections. Readers are in for a treat.
