Sisters Under the Rising Sun, by Heather Morris, is not about a time/part of history with which I am familiar. The atrocities of war and the pain they caused are described in a way that is real. This story is heartbreaking, yet inspirational. Thank you, NetGalley and tSt. Martin’s Press, for providing me with an ARC ebook of this beautifully written, historical fiction novel, so that I could not only enjoy it but also provide an honest review.

Oh, so incredibly heartbreaking, and their strength and resilience, so unexpected. In squalor, captivity, starvation, disease and abuse, they still managed to find and spread joy. To create friendships, families and care for one another.

Theirs is not a story I had heard before, and I love that they were given a voice. The author's notes at the end are not to be missed.
I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank St Martins Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Sisters Under the Rising Sun by author Heather Morris. One of her previous books, Cilka’s Journey, is one of my favorites.
This time she chooses a very different venue.
“We will carry on looking up even when all around us is squalor and sickness.”
The year is 1943. Refugees are trying to escape from Singapore to avoid capture by the Japanese. Many are on the ship, Vynar Brooke, when it is attacked. Survivors are rounded up and subjected to unimaginable treatment in the jungles of Sumatra. The nurses and Sisters do their best to to keep as many as possible alive. Finding food, tending to the sick and keeping up morale is what is important. How about creating an orchestra with only voices!
Who will survive?
Will families reunite?
What happens to the young child who is being cared for by sisters she calls aunties?
The reader lives the horrors along with the prisoners. Many sacrifice for others. You are drawn in and feel the pain! Would think this may appeal more to women.The book will be published October 10th 2023.

A touching story that tells you the sad truth that lies in the country during war. From the nurses perspective was a very interesting read. Definitely touches the heart.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Heather Morris is the master of weaving facts and history into an unforgettable historical fiction masterpiece. Sisters Under the Rising Sun tells the story of shipwrecked nurses who become POW's in a Japanese camp. In deplorable conditions, they form a bond so strong, they would die for each other. Survival and being reunited with their family and loved ones seem impossible as they struggle each day to endure.

So many books about WWII focus on the events that occurred in Europe. Sisters Under the Rising Sun tells us about the female prisoners of war who were captured by the Japanese in Singapore. This is an important book based on true events and I appreciate the author telling the stories of these brave women.

That being said, I found my interest in the book slagging at times. The writing occasionally seemed a little disjointed and I struggled to keep track of the characters. Although I’m glad to have learned more about the events in the Pacific, I’m ready to move on to a different genre.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

"I have told this story so they will be known. How can you be remembered if you've never been heard of?" I absolutely love this quote from the Author's Notes. It so beautifully states why I deeply appreciate what authors like Heather Morris do with stories like this.

I have stumbled upon very few stories focused on the atrocities women faced in the POW camps during WWII. It is so incredible that Ms. Morris brought these women's stories to light. These were real people who lived through this. The more I read about WWII and the aftermath, the more mind boggling it is to me how far reaching that war was.

It seems there have been more stories recently published about WWII from the Japan side vs. Germany side. It's been interesting to learn more about that part of war and its implications.

What an astonishing story of so many women who fought against the horrors that took place during WWII. Their strength and resilience should be remembered and known by all of us.

It took me a little while to get into the story and all of the characters but once I did I was hooked.

The atrocities that took place are so challenging to read about but should give us pause to reflect and remember.

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own

The author also wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey, both books I loved. This was a great story about a group of women who are imprisoned on an island after escaping from Singapore during WWII. They decide to survive by tending to one another, sharing, making music, singing, and loving one another. Despite their many hardships they endure. A great book with a strong message.

Heather Morris' new book is set in the World War II, as her other best seller The Tattooist of Auschwitz and just as gripping. This one was not set on the European mainland but in the eastern part of the world.

When the Japanese attack in the Pacific region, a young musician mother Norah, sends her daughter Sally, with her sister on a ship that is leaving Singapore, while she stays back to look after her parents. Very soon though, Singapore falls to the Japanese and Norah herself along with her husband and sister also leave aboard the Vyner Brooke. A group of nurses is also on the ship as they move south. Unfortunately, the ship is bombarded just two days later off the coast of Indonesia. Norah and a few others survive and reach an island only to be captured by the Japanese and transferred to a POW camp.

Women and men are kept in separate camps. Norah and her sister along with a young girl Judy, who they have taken under their wing, are in the camp along with the nurses. Nurse Nesta rises to the occasion and shows exemplary courage to fight their situation.

The story based on true events is engrossing and an eye opener. The hardships and losses of the women were so difficult to read. Conflict in our world is a bitter reality so narratives of the wars are important to realise how they leave a mark on lives and what a waste they are. this story has not been told before and the author has done a fantastic job of it. I highly recommend this book to all readers who can stomach the horror of the concentration camps.

I was given an uncorrected digital ARC by Netgalley to give my honest opinion about it.

This author has written some very good books about the Holocaust and a few of its survivors. I was surprised when I discovered this was also a WWII book, but one about the Singapore attacks and internment of Australian and British nurses, sisters, and private citizens. At first, it took me a bit to get into the book. There were so many different people introduced and so many different dates. Once I figured things out, I enjoyed the story more. It's another heartbreaking story by this author, one that tells about friendship and survival. 3.5 solid stars.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Heather Morris takes WW2 history to another important but somewhat forgotten venue. The Pacific theater. The story starts out when ships were trying to evacuate Singapore. The ships were bombed and survivors washed up on shore and were soon captured and placed into a Japanese POW camp. There was one group of Australian Army nurses and the rest were various refugees.

At first it was hard to keep track of all the people but soon I was totally invested. It was so hard to believe that people were that cruel and the will of people to survive, no matter the conditions. You forget that these were real people and not just characters in a book.

If you liked other books by this author you will love this one.

Amazing, heartbreaking, thought provoking book. I am grateful for the invitation to read it. This is a WW11 book that takes place in Japan. I knew nothing about this war. The cruelty experienced is unimaginable for most of us. Read this amazing book. I highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.

Let me begin by saying I love Heather Morris and thoroughly enjoyed her previous books. The tale of the two sisters, the nurses, and other captives under the Japanese during WWII was gut-wrenching and brutal in what they had to endure. The majority of WWII historical fiction seems to center around the European theater, so this was a glimpse into the other side of that great conflict. Morris writes of the true characters in her story at the back of the book and shares some of their stories of before and after the war, which I found interesting. I would have given this book 5 stars, because the tale is so engaging and educational into the horrors of war and the phenomenal strength and endurance of these women. However, the writing style seemed somewhat elementary to me, almost like reading a YA novel, and did not seem to have much depth in the actual writing and tone. I also feel that desperate times call for desperate measures and it seems that there would’ve been at least some conflicts between the women during those trying times. I felt it would’ve made it more realistic if that had been portrayed, even among some of the minor characters in the story. Will I read the next Heather Morris book? Absolutely! And I am glad that I read this one and would recommend it to my friends. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

Chaotic.
This book is way too chaotic for me.

From the opening pages, there was too many people, too many places, things going on.
Then the bombing of the transport, through the jungle to capture, so many people, and I had no idea where this story was based.

I could not care for the characters. Characters were wooden, I felt that they had no personality, and there was no backstory.
This book would have been so much better if the author had just focused upon a few characters, NOT HUNDREDS!

It was confusing and then all of a sudden Margaret died. Ok? Was I supposed to care for Margaret. Who was Margaret. Was Margaret mentioned before she died? At that point I was tired, I just wanted the women to be rescued.

There is a story there, I enjoyed reading about the real life people, but this author DID NOT do them justice.

Heather Morris has established herself in the WWII historical fiction world, controversially or not. Her latest takes us away from Europe to the Pacific Theater of WWII with Sisters Under the Rising Sun. Sisters Under the Rising Sun tells the story of some women who become prisoners of war after their ship is sunk by Japanese aircraft as they were trying to escape Singapore. Brought together under dire circumstances, the women face atrocities from their Japanese captors, but look for a ray of hope amongst themselves. Without losing sight of where they are being held or what they are enduring, the women learn to lean on each other as they wake each day with survival in mind.

What the women find is a sisterhood that is powered by music. Using their talents, they put together concerts to keep the spirits of the prisoners up so they know not to give up. They find a family with each other that helps them wake up thankful each day, no matter what may come. While other novels about Japanese prisoners of war involving women have been written, I found this one to infer some of what went on instead of going into graphic detail. This also tells the story of a strength that many of the women probably didn’t realize they had. The strength to survive, the strength of perseverance, the strength of determination, the strength of sisterhood. Make sure to read the author’s notes at the end to know the inspiring true faces behind Morris’ book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book is set for publication on October 23, 2023.

#netgalley #arc #bookstagram #sistersundertherisingsun #heathermorris #stmartinspress #smpinfluencers

Another great read by Heather Morris! I really enjoyed this book and did not want to put it down. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Although Heather Morris takes her readers off the European mainland and transports them to Asia, she still draws upon her stellar ability to write about suffering and hope in the midst of it. Her focus this time is on sisters - nursing sisters - and she examines the belief that struggles expand our compassion for others.

Inspired by the Vyner Brook Tragedy, Morris’s latest book reminds us that even when it feels like the suffering is too much for us to handle, it’s possible for us to keep feeling compassion. Furthermore, it’s possible to help generously. Armed with resilience developed through their career, the ‘sisters’ effectively elevated their own ability to care about and effectively help others who were …. Ugh, I”m going to say it … in the same boat. Don’t throw anything at me!

The Vyner Brook was a merchant ship carrying desperate evacuees from Singapore when it was hit by the Japanese Air Force and sunk. You’ll read about a group of courageous survivors who made it to a remote island … then realize that the sinking was only the beginning of their horrific journey to escape the Japanese invasion of Singapore.

You’ll appreciate a fresh setting and perspective for WW2 history, and your emotions will be high when you are reminded that these are real people and real events. Their resilience and bravery will astound you. I won’t forget Nesta James, Betty Jeffrey and Vivian Bullwinkel any time soon. Thank you for bringing this important piece of history to light so that we can continue to learn from their courage and care.

If you loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka’s Journey and/or Three Sisters, you’ll want to source a copy of this book immediately.

The significance of the title was not lost on me, Heather Morris!

I was gifted this copy by St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I've read all of Heather's previous books and this one did not grab me. I was looking forward to a different perspective but I felt it fell flat.

Sisters Under the Rising Sun is a novel based on real people,. It deals with the internment of women in Japanese POW camps during World War II. The women lived in terrible conditions and tried to help each other to survive.
The story includes two sisters and a group of Australian nurses. There are also children in the camp. It took tremendous will to survive.

This was a new topic for me in historical women. Not only do men suffer during war but women are also suffering. This books showed how the Japanese treated POWs. It is a book about sisterhood, survival, and will give you a different view of WWII. This book is good historical fiction.

Thank you to #netgalley, @HeatherMorris and @StMartinsPress for a copy of this book.
#SistersUndertheRisingSun