The novel is based on a true-life story. Amy Biehl was born in the USA and was a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship. She chose to come to South Africa, where she was killed the day before she was due to return to her country. Mother to Mother takes the form of an epistle to Amy Biehl's mother. SIndiwe Magona imagines how easily it might have been her own son caught up in the violence of that day - she writes about their lives in a colonised society that not only allowed, but also perpetuated violence against women and impoverished South Africans.