When Shze-Hui Tjoa started writing her debut memoir, (Tin House, May 2024), she was interested in exploring people and places that “looked aspirational but were actually problematic within.” Essays from the book, for example, dissect businesses peddling environmentally friendly practices and the colonial history behind Bali’s tourism industry. But as Tjoa wrote, she began to turn to herself: “I too was seemingly doing well on the outside but struggling with serious depression in private, with no memories from a large chunk of my childhood,”
