Van Hoang
Biography
Van Hoang’s first name is pronounced like the van in minivan. Her last name is pronounced “hah-wawng.” She is the author of Girl Giant and the Monkey King, Girl Giant and the Jade War, and the forthcoming Auntie Q’s Golden Claws Nail Salon for middle grade readers. Her adult debut novel The Monstrous Misses Mai released in 2024, about 4 young women who accidentally become witches in order to pay rent in 1959 Los Angeles. Silver and Smoke, about 2 Vietnamese starlets and their demonic dead bestie in 1936, released in 2025. She earned her bachelor’s in English at the University of New Mexico and her master’s in library information science at San Jose State University. She was born in Vietnam, grew in up Orange County, California, and now resides in Los Angeles with her family. When she is not writing, she spends her days force-feeding books to small children (and adults!) at the library. She loves boba.
Books
A determined young woman in 1950s Los Angeles walks a darker city than she ever imagined in a spellbinding novel about the power to make dreams come true―whatever the sacrifice.
Los Angeles brims with opportunity in 1959―though not for aspiring fashion designer Cordelia Mai Yin, the first-generation child of Vietnamese immigrants, who finds the city unkind to outsiders and as dispirited as her own family. When Cordi rents a cheap loft in an old apartment building, she quickly warms to kindred souls Tessa, Audrey, and Silly. They also want better things and have pasts they’d rather forget. That they all share the same middle name makes their friendship seem like destiny.
As supportive as they are of each other, it’s a struggle just to eke out a living, let alone hope to see their wishes for success come true. Until an ever-present and uncannily charming acquaintance of the landlord’s offers a solution to their problems. He promises to fulfill their every dream. All it takes is a little magic. And a small sacrifice.
A heartwarming and funny middle grade novel about family, resilience, and the power of second chances where one girl’s summer punishment turns into a mission to save her aunt’s struggling nail salon and bring her family together.
As one surprisingly effective spell leads to another, their wishes get bigger. But so does the price they must pay. Amid the damaged seams of her life so far, Cordi must realize her own power in order to rip free, without losing everything she’s worked so hard to achieve.
Twelve-year-old Domi Pham had the perfect summer lounging by the pool, making art with her best friend, and celebrating her escape from seventh grade. But one costly mistake puts her dream summer on hold. Instead, she finds herself deep in debt to her parents, and shipped off to New Mexico to work at her Auntie Q’s nail salon for the next three months.
At first, Domi is miserable—surrounded by nosy aunties, constant nail polish fumes, and endless work. But as she gets to know Auntie Q and the people in the salon, she starts to see their struggles and resilience in a new light. When she discovers that the salon is at risk of closing, Domi puts her creativity and determination to the test to help save it.