Sunshine Nails
A Novel
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4.1 • 15 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A Real Simple Must-Read Book of Summer 2023
“Mai Nguyen has proven herself to be a real standout.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author
A tender, humorous, and page-turning debut about a Vietnamese Canadian family in Toronto who will do whatever it takes to protect their no-frills nail salon after a new high end salon opens up—even if it tears the family apart. Perfect for readers of Olga Dies Dreaming and The Fortunes of Jaded Women.
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 and everything they’ve built. 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?
Sunshine Nails is a light-hearted, urgent fable of gentrification with a cast of memorable and complex characters who showcase the diversity of immigrant experiences and community resilience.
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.
