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.