Like a number of Netherlanders in the post World War II era, Inez Hollander only gradually became aware that her family had significant connections with its Dutch colonial past, including an Indonesian great-grandmother. For the most part such personal stories have been, if not entirely silenced, at least only whispered about in Holland, where society has remained uncomfortable with many aspects of its imperial rule.

Unlike the majority of memoirs that are soaked in nostalgia for tempo dulu, Hollander's sets out to come to grips with her family's past by weaving together personal...