The place is southern California, and the time is the 1980s. In this era, physical abuse isn’t acceptable, and yet, it is also mostly shrugged off and rarely prevented. The narrator finds herself the target of such attacks, unchecked by the adults around her. Despite this, she cultivates curiosity, intrigued and inspired by natural beauty. When the narrator makes her way to the Midwest for college, she begins to create. She delves passionately into music, writing, sewing, and art. She lives a life independent of the world she grew up in—but it slowly becomes apparent that her internal world is crumbling, making it hard for her to behave in ordinary ways. In this posthumous collection of essays and conversations, author S. Yi takes an experimental approach to observing life. Her story is one of learning from the people around her and how, in the absence of worthy teachers, she taught herself. Written with well-crafted precision and touched by grace, And We Drown portrays a brilliant, vulnerable woman struggling for connection and meaning.