'This is the first memory I have of my mamma, the first sweet memory. Sometimes her laughter bursts into my head and I hear her call me - my name full and round in her mouth. Frustratingly though, as with all the memories I have of her, Mamma's face -always her face - blurs under the pressure of my focus. Shifting Colours is a story of secrets, love and loss. Set against the violent backdrop of apartheid South Africa and then the calm of late twentieth century Britain, the novel traces the lives of Celia and Miriam- a mother and daughter separated by land, sea and heart-rending circumstances.