Sisters Under The Rising Sun is the fourth novel by New Zealand-born Australian author, Heather Morris. In early 1942, as the Japanese attack Singapore, English musician Norah Chambers, her husband John and her younger sister, Ena board the HMS Vyner Brooke hoping to escape to safety. Norah’s daughter Sally has been sent on earlier with their older sister.

Much as they would like to stay behind to provide help that will surely be needed, Sister Nesta James and her group of Australian Army Nurses is ordered to evacuate from Singapore on the Vyner Brooke. Neither group has any idea that their ship will be sunk, they will soon be washed up on the Sumatran coast and spend three years and seven months as prisoners of the Japanese.

During that time, along with hundreds of other internees including Dutch nuns and Dutch and English civilians, they are separated from their men folk and endure starvation rations, and a severe lack of fresh water and medical supplies. They are subject to violence, physical and mental torture; some are used for the Japanese Officers’ sexual gratification; they are made to move camp several times at short notice; Red Cross parcels and mail are withheld from them; one witnesses a massacre.

Amidst all this hardship, these women form a sisterhood, mostly cooperating and sharing what they have; they boost their morale with a camp newspaper, with singing, and concerts with their voice orchestra. They show kindness and care, and form firm friendships.

Morris states that she tells this story, overlooked by history, so that the women will be known in order to be remembered. It’s an ambitious project, with a large cast of characters, some of whom only get a single mention, but she does share their fates, where known, in the author’s notes.

The narrative is from the perspectives of Norah and Nesta, but it feels remote rather than personal, like scenes being watch from a train window in passing. Given that the original stories must have been related second- or third-hand perhaps this is understandable, but makes it difficult to feel much connection with the protagonists. A rendition of the amazing women and children who survived the brutal Japanese POW camps during World War II that is more matter-of-fact than emotional.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley, Better Reading Preview and Echo Publishing.