It’s February 1942. Amid the turmoil of WWII, a group of Australian Army nurses, among them Nesta James and Vivian Bullwinkel, have just arrived in Singapore. Their hope is to remain in the beleaguered British colony to continue their mission of treating the sick and wounded.
Norah Chambers, an English musician, has also fled to Singapore from Malaya, where she had been living with her husband and her eight-year-old daughter, Sally. A few days earlier she had sent her child away on a ship bound for Australia, desperate to keep her safe from invading Japanese forces.
As the Japanese military overruns the city, Nesta and Vivian reluctantly join a terrified cargo of people – including the heartbroken Norah – crammed aboard the merchant ship Vyner Brooke. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke has sunk.
After 24 hours in the sea, Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of a remote island, only to be captured and held in a succession of Japanese POW camps, places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. Alongside hundreds of other women prisoners, they begin a struggle for survival that will last almost four years.
But even here, joy can be found by those with the will to defy their desperate circumstances. When Norah forms a ‘vocal orchestra’, with the women’s voices taking the place of instruments, their music has the power to bring hope into the midst of despair.
Sisters in arms, Norah and Nesta fight side by side, discovering in themselves extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness, humour and hope in their determination to retain their humanity by caring for others.
The all-pervasive thought I had while reading this tremendous, heart-wrenching and uplifting novel was, ‘this actually happened.’ And when you read Sisters Under the Rising Sun, I imagine you will feel the same. The sheer audacity of hope, and the resourcefulness of these women living under the most extreme of circumstances, is a testimony to the strength of women, love and friendship – all of which are major themes in this page-turning read.
Heather Morris is the international, multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka’s Journey and Three Sisters. Morris has an ability to find the most compelling stories from history, ones that humanise major occurrences. Her understanding of the people she’s inspired by travels with her to create stories that are outstanding.
There are a lot of characters in this novel. There’s the superbly resourceful and cheery Nesta, the spirited Vivian, steadfast Ena and, of course, the brilliant, talented and transcendent Norah. Norah brings light and hope through her gift, transcribing the most challenging works of music from memory and creating and the vocal orchestra. An added bonus is the photos of the real-life characters and the actual scores Norah arranged and transcribed.
Sisters under the Rising Sun is a major lesson in inner strength, friendship and, above all, the continuing power of love.
If you’re beginning to think of gifts for Christmas stockings, give this one to women in your life: your sister, your girlfriends, your mum, your daughter, your aunt – and grab a copy for yourself, too. It’s superb!
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