[1][2] Tawhai's writing focuses on the experiences of ethnic minorities in New Zealand.
[2] In 2021, she released her debut novel Aljce in Therapy Land[3] which was long-listed for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
The novel deals with themes of bullying at work, marijuana and draws multiple strands of plot and character development from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
[4][5][6] Writing for The Spinoff Rebecca K Reilly, said the book "takes risks, is experimental with pacing, uses a lot of expository dialogue and frequently slips between reality and fantasy.
"[6] Writing for Landfall, Gina Cole described it as a "delightfully crazy and, at times, hilarious story and an engaging comment on the strangeness of life by a great storyteller.