Shadows Across the Sun

by Josephine Chia

Shadows Across the Sun explores the concept of mothering and what it means to be a mother. It also looks at relationships and the validity of past memories. Kim Hiok, formerly a Singaporean, lives in England and is middle-aged. In the opening chapter, her son, Peter, whom she abandoned in her native country, comes to take her back home. He has arrived at an opportune moment when Robert, her English husband, has died suddenly. A mystery is created around the circumstances of Robert's death. The latter is one of the shadows suggested in the title. Other shadows concern Kim Hiok's relationship with her son and her own father. Written in the first-person, Shadows Across the Sun uses emotional and physical distance to trace the path that Kim Hiok takes. This is a bid to suggest the possibility of repeated patterns occurring in one's life illustrated in the novel by repetitive situations that occur.

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 2005

About the author

Ms Josephine Chia is a Peranakan and is proud of her heritage. She writes both fiction and non-fiction. She has eight published books, including Frog Under A Coconut Shell, which has a second edition in 2010 and is currently being translated into Bahasa Indonesia. Josephine was one of the winners of UK's Ian St. James Awards in 1992 and has won other literary prizes.
Josephine runs Creative Writing Courses and is Mentor to aspiring young writers.