Toronto Metropolitan University alum and journalist Mai Nguyen is going from the world of nonfiction to fiction with the release of her debut novel Sunshine Nails this summer.

Nguyen’s novel follows a Vietnamese family in Toronto that owns a nail salon as a more modern salon moves in down the street following the release of New York Times nail salon expose. It follows the struggles of this family as they try to deal with sudden competition and the reputational hit the article gave to honest nail salons.

Nguyen has been writing this novel over the last four years, she says, and it has been an off and on process. The idea of the book came from her experience working in her parents salon and trying to find a way to tell her story. Originally, she wanted to do the story through a journalistic lens.

“You always have to find the right people to talk to. You have to find the right sources, the right platform and publication that is willing to tell that story. It was just getting hard to find a place to sell that story,” says Nguyen.

Nguyen says that the difficulty of the story is what made her choose to transition from journalism to fiction writing. With her novel, she says that she wants to explore and share the Vietnamese nail salon culture with her readers.

“I wanted to show how big of an influence the Vietnamese community had on the nail salon industry. They’re not just workers, the people that are behind the table, they have actually made a vast influence on changing how the industry looks,” says Nguyen

One of the changes to the industry is that it went from something only wealthier people did to the average person getting their nails done after Vietnamese started working in the nail industry. Nguyen says that a large number of nail salons are owned and operated by Vietnamese people.

“The population is so vast, they’ve heavily influenced the nail salon industry trajectory. Going to a nail salon that was something that was saved for the aristocrats for wealthier individuals. It wasn’t something like a regular person could just go in and do,” says Nguyen.

With this novel, Nguyen has put some of her real life in the pages. She says that she knows a lot of Vietnamese families that own a nail salon including her own parents. In the book, there is a scene where a character overhears two people talking about slipping a tip into a nail technician's pocket so their manager doesn’t take the tip. This is based on an experience Nguyen had when she was a teenager.

“I worked at my parents' salon doing manicures and pedicures. This one customer after I was done with the service put a $10 bill in my pocket. She whispered to me and said this money is for you, don't let anyone take it,” Nguyen says. “There was kind of a seedier and darker meaning behind why she did that. I felt a little bad accepting it because I know the fact she gave it to me meant that she did not trust my parents.”

Sunshine Nails is set to release July 4.

Listen below to hear the full interview: