Sisters Under The Rising Sun brought another perspective to WWII history - for families and nurses in the Australian army who were fleeing Singapore as the war drew close. Their ships were bombed and sank. Many people didn’t make it to shore, and those who did faced a grim future as prisoners of war.

We follow the women as they are moved between camps, separated from spouses, sometimes separated from each other. They endure terrible weather - extreme heat and monsoons - and ensure abuse from their captors.

Despite their situations, we hear how the women find ways to support and uplift each other through their 3.5 years of captivity.

A great reminder of the widespread impacts of WWII and how so many people were affected around the world. Thank you to @netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

#netgalley #netgallyreviewer #netgalleyreader #netgalleyarc #fiction #booklover #bookreviews #whatimreading #whatiread #bookish #bookstagram #bookworm #booknerd #bookaddict #bibliophile #bookgram #bookstagrammer #instabooks #bookreviewer #takealookitsinabook #libraryreads
#sistersundertherisingsunbook #heathermorris

The premise of this book was very interesting but the dialogue was stilted and storyline seemed very choppy to me- I honestly thought about DNF this one a couple chapters in. I’ve enjoyed other books by this author but this one just didn’t do it for me. Can’t help but feel as though this book didn’t do justice for these amazing nurses. 2.5 stars out of 5 for me. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the free electronic copy.

Due to St. Martins Press refusal to address the remarks made by their employee regarding Palestine, I will not be reviewing this book on social media. This in no way has anything to do with the author. But I refuse to support anything from SMP because of their refusal to address a major issue at hand.

I can not rave enough about this book. For all who say they've read as much as much as they care to about WWII, you need to seriously consider changing your mind. Morris has written a book base on so much fact and told their story in a straightforward, moving manner. Japan torpedoed several boats off the coast of Singapore. Morris focuses on a group of people who managed to survive the torpedoes and end up on an island (Somalia). Eventually the Japanese separate the men and the women and put them in different 'camps'. Morris focuses on a women's camp. Their story is moving and amazing. This is a must read.

There are so many historical novels about World War II, but few of them focus on the Pacific Theater. Despite the large role that it played in American history, most American novels focus on the Western Front and the atrocities committed by Hitler. I am a sucker for fiction that feels new or different, so when I saw that Heather Morris’s new book focuses on the Pacific Theater, I had to read it. Sisters Under the Rising Sun not only felt both new AND different, but it is one of those books that will stick with me for the rest of the year.

The book opens by introducing Ena and Norah, two sisters living with their husbands and parents in Singapore. The Japanese bombing campaigns in Singapore are getting fierce, so they know they need to leave. John, Norah’s husband, contracts typhus, so John and Norah send their eight-year-old daughter, Sally, on a ship with her Aunt Barbara ahead of them. A week later, they follow. Ken, Ena’s husband, has to stay behind with the women’s ailing parents. The sisters and John, who is still very sick, board the Vyner Brooke. Unfortunately, the ship is bombed by the Japanese in route and sinks. Many inhabitants make it to an island off the coast of Indonesia, where they are imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp.

  Among the shipwrecked occupants are a group of nuns who work for the Australian Army Nursing Service. One nun, Nesta James, becomes their leader after their Matron is killed trying to make it to the island from the sea. The Japanese promptly separate the men from the women, leaving Norah with no knowledge on John’s whereabouts or if he even survived his struggle with typhus. Fear and anxiety grow in the new camp, causing the women to quickly bond together. 

  The women are treated horribly at the POW camp. They are nearly starved and subsist mostly on rice filled with weevils. Their living conditions are atrocious, with open sewage, a lack of food, rodents, dirty drinking water, and inadequate quarters throughout their three-year imprisonment. The Japanese eventually force some women to “entertain” their officers. With their condition appearing dire, the sisters know they must do something to increase morale and give the women something to live for.

   One day, the women decide that they are going to publish a newspaper to help them keep each other’s spirits up so they don’t slip into despair. Later, they begin having concerts. This gives Norah, who was a trained musician, a crazy idea. She decides to teach the women to make their voices sound like different instruments. They form the “voice orchestra” and perform for the women (and even some of the Japanese). This keeps morale up until the women are simply too weak to sing any longer.

  Sisters Under the Rising Sun fictionalizes the real account of the Australian Army Nursing Service and the women imprisoned with them at the POW camp. The honor and bravery that these women portrayed in the face of their horrific surroundings is unspeakable. In the epilogue of the book, Morris notes that Australian citizens lined the streets with flowers to welcome home the nuns when they returned in 1945. It was only befitting that these brave women were given a hero’s welcome. Telling the story of this unit also checked a box that I have been longing to see– a positive portrayal of a religious person. As a religious person myself, I get very tired of the constant derogatory tone incorporated into so many pieces of contemporary fiction. It was nice to see a religious person portrayed in mainstream fiction that was not questioning or acting in a manner that was hypocritical of their faith. The nuns acted as nuns– they provided love and support to the women around them in any way they could.

  While I felt like the dialogue in the book felt underdeveloped, the plot that Morris weaved together made this a book that will stick with me for a long time. I foresee myself recommending it again and again to all of my historical fiction-loving friends.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book takes place in WWII in the Pacific. Norah and her husband send their eight-year-old daughter Sally from Singapore on a ship to keep her safe from the Japanese. Norah stays behind to care for her husband and parents. Nesta is a Welsh Australian nurse who has been helping to care for the Allied troops. When Singapore falls to the Japanese, they board a merchant ship hoping to get to safety. They soon become fast friends. They are only on the ship for a few days when it is bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia. They spend twenty-four hours swimming to safety on a remote island, only to be captured by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp. They meet up with some of the other nurses and passengers from the ship. They are in horrific conditions, but the women have incredible inner strength to cope with their circumstances. Most of the books I’ve read focus on the war in Europe, but this book gave me a different perspective about this part of the war. I found this book hard to put down!

Also reviewed on B&N under 1IrishEyes430 and Kobo under IrishEyes430

Sisters Under the Rising Sun is a compelling and thought-provoking work of historical fiction that will appeal to fans of the genre. It serves as a powerful reminder of the bravery and resilience exhibited by women during a devastating period in history. Readers will find themselves deeply moved by the story and left with a renewed appreciation for the bonds of sisterhood and the strength of the human spirit.

What a powerful book. There are so many heroic people with powerful stories that I never dreamed existed and I love learning about these small pieces of history.

With WWII in abundance, I need a different part of the war showcased to compel me to pick up the book. And this one delivered. A group of women in a Japanese POW camp that gather and sing to help everyone endure the nightmare they are living. With dire conditions, connecting and having something enjoyable helped spark some hope and happiness.

Such a heartfelt tale that had me tearful so many times as I read. I connected with the characters and their hardships.

And if the story of women using friendship to survive wasn’t enough, the author’s notes and acknowledgements brought even more to her words. I appreciate the research she did and that she based on real world people that lived through this nightmare.

I learned so much from this book. I’m embarrassed to say I knew little about Japanese POW camps during WWII before reading this book. The women whose stories were told were all so amazingly strong and heroic. I highly recommend reading the notes from the author at the end of the book as well. Heather Morris is an incredibly gifted storyteller, and one of my favorite historical fiction writers.

A sincere thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this electronic arc. All views are entirely my own.

Oh how I loved the Tattooist series! ❥ Sisters Under the Rising Sun is a surprise departure from those novels as it follows two sisters alongside Australian Army nurses while captured by the Japanese during World War ll. The setting is a remote island in the South Pacific where men, women and children (whom were lucky enough to survive a deadly attack while aboard their merchant ship) reached shore after their ships sinking by the Japanese. Upon first glance the island looked to be a jungle paradise until they find it had been taken over by the Japanese and they become POW’s for the next 3.7 years.

Life in a concentration camp is punishing and brutal, yet these women showed invaluable strength to help those in need for survival. They shared their gift of song, singing to uplift their fellow women and to bring forth much needed solidarity. This is a heartbreaking, yet inspirational, true-to-life story of how these women shared the deepest bonds of friendship, and had the adaptability to survive through catastrophic events of war. It is crushing to think of the physical and emotional suffering these survivors went through whilst also losing so many family and friends, it’s unimaginable. The book includes a prologue into the authors research with various family interviews and photos. Highly recommend. ❥ 4.5 stars — Pub. 10/24/23

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the complimentary eARC. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book. I will say- you must listen to it. The narrator (Laura Carmichael of Downton Abbey fame-Lady Edith Crawley) is fantastic and we get the advantage of hearing the music being sung in the audio book, which just elevates the story. I loved the afterward, the music, the letters from family members. I was sobbing at the end of this story over hope and loss. As with all of Morris' books, it was beautifully written and evoked so much emotion about a blip in time I knew nothing about. Highly recommend.

In this book we follow multiple women from multiple countries as they are taken prisoner by the Japanese during WWII. I didn't know anything about this part of history and feel blessed to now know these women and see how they found beauty in such a dark place.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

💻Check out my website for easy access to book reviews by genre or author. Latishaslowkeylife.com

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝕊𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕌𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕊𝕦𝕟
𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘀
WWll Historical Fiction
400 pages

Sʜᴏᴿᴛ Sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs

Several people try to escape Singapore on a merchant ship as the Japanese army is headed their way.

After being capsized by the Japanese army, some of the people on board survive after a day in the water, making their way to an island.

Sadly, they are captured and spend several years in a Japanese POW camp. The focus is on the years in this camp and how they were treated there.

Mʸ Tᴴᴼᵁᴳᴴᵀs

I am astounded as I read more and more about WWll. Sisters Under the Rising Sun dialed in on what it was like in a women’s POW camp and how strong these women were. This is a topic I hadn’t read about before, and it was eye-opening.

Norah and Nesta are the main characters who work tirelessly to care for others and improve life while living in dire circumstances. Norah Chambers had a musical background, which she used to bring music and a touch of joy to the camp. Sister Nesta James was a Welsh Australian nurse who cared for the women the best she could with their few supplies.

These women lived an atrocious life for almost four years. Some survived to tell this story, starved, sick, and weak but alive. Others were buried on the outskirts of the various camps they lived at. It's such a sad story, but I’m glad I could hear it.

In the back of the book, the author included information about the real women this book was written about. I love reading a little extra about the characters when the story is based on actual events. I was happy to see some of the survivors lived a long life after being rescued.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review. 💕

Sisters Under the Rising Sun
A Novel
by Heather Morris

Sisters Under the Rising Sun is a very well researched and well written book. Although fictionalized, it is an accurate depiction of the experiences as Prisoners of War in Japanese Concentration camps.

This story focuses on two real life women, nurse Nesta James and a passenger Norah Chambers as they fight to survive after fleeing Singapore and their ship goes down. I enjoyed this book by Heather Morris, and highly recommend this book for HF fans with a different view point on wWII fiction novels.

I found this book a little difficult to follow initially due to so many different characters, but since it was based on true events it was worth the time it took to “get to know” the characters in the story. Such a great story of sisterhood, sacrifice, and working together through hardships. I loved the unique angle, different from the many other books from this WW2 era.

Heather Morris is one of the best voices in historical fiction at the moment in my personal opinion. I find she is able to take such a small instance or tidbit of history and turn it into a spellbinding heart wrenching story. I will admit to not having as much knowledge about this even then I should and what a way to learn about it.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Sisters Under the Rising Sun is a very well informed and well written book. Although fictionalized, it is an accurate depiction of the experiences many women went through as Prisoners of War in Japanese Concentration camps. The western theater served as a backdrop to many inhumane treatments of American, British and Australians as they were captured. This story focuses on two real life women, nurse Nesta James and a passenger Norah Chambers as they fight to survive after fleeing Singapore and their ship goes down. I enjoyed this book by Heather Morris, but struggled a bit for it to get going. I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own. 3.5 Stars

Amazing story by Heather Morris where she kept us scared and even in suspense at every single moment, is the story of Nora James a young woman who made the sad and terrible decision to send her daughter away to be saved from the evilness of the war..

Nora is now living a different kind of fate joining forces with sister Nesta an Australian woman who becomes a close friend and ally of Nora.

Captured in one of the worst camps in history, Nora and Nesta are determined to survive the harsh treatments and conditions they're facing in this POW camp.

Overall it was a great book, I enjoyed the story the characters, and the strength of these women

Thank you, NetGalley and, St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of Sisters Under the Rising Sun in exchange for my honest review.

I was honored to have the publisher offer me an early copy through NetGalley, but due to the length of it I waited for the audiobook to become available. Good choice since the audiobook had some really beautiful choral renditions. The chorus was formed in a Japanese prison camp for women, which included some nurses and sisters who were captured while escaping Singapore in 1942. The women were at the mercy of their captors but still had the wherewithal to fathom some truly creative ways to pass the time and keep their sanity. The story is inspiring. The Epilogue gave me a big ole lump in my throat.

Based on real women and their experiences over 3+ years in the camp. Real heroines now gone - bravo to them.

This was such a different historical fiction novel as it was set in Singapore and Japan. It was beautifully written and told a story I wasn’t as familiar with. It was hard reading about the POW camp in Japan and what these ladies had to do to survive and how they tried to amuse themselves with their singing.

I enjoy historical fiction more when I find it’s based on a true story like this was. The stars of the story were a bunch Australian nurses who helped all the woman the best way they could during this experience. Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Back again with one of my favorite authors of historical fiction. This time Heather Morris is bringing us the story of women held prisoners by the Japanese during World War II.

The story begins with Norah Chambers placing her daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever see her again, but with the Japanese taking over Singapore, she has no choice.

She eventually finds herself crammed on a boat, with her sick husband, also trying to leave for safety. On board is a group of Australian nurses, led by Sister Nesta James.

Their ship is bombed and they end up in a prisoner-of-war camp run by the Japanese.

The women struggle to survive while trying to make the camp as livable as possible. They form make-shift hospitals, sharing whatever they have with each other. Norah, with her musical background, creates a choir to help lift the spirits of the women.

This novel really makes you think about how people cope and the will to survive. Be sure and read the epilogue as you learn about the real women behind the story.

Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time.