[7] Breinburg, of mixed European and African heritage, was born in Suriname in 1927.

[8][9] Her father, a policeman, died when she was 12 and the family – there were six children – went to live with her grandmother, near an old Dutch plantation.

[12] In Guyana, she was a member of the Red Cross Society for 10 years, serving for some time as Lieutenant of the Girls Life Brigade.

[13] Breinburg was a supply teacher in London, where her experience of racism and representation shaped her writing.

[14][15] She was then appointed to Goldsmiths' University of London, where she was a senior lecturer and head of the Caribbean Centre.