Sisters under the Rising Sun
By: Heather Morris
5☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

Imagine sending your child away for their protection! Sally, who is eight is sent with her sister Norah and her sons to leave Singapore. Their parents Norah and John Chambers remain behind to help care for elderly parents as the Japanese army is invading the Pacific.
☀️
I loved this novel about nurses from all over. We follow Nesta James who is a nurse and a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service. She among others flee Singapore on the SS Vyner Brooke heading to Australia, which is one of last boats leaving. They all know the risk is real and could be bombed. They almost make it and are bombed and sink.
☀️
Several make it to a small island but are captured by the Japanese. The women become friends and work together to keep their spirits up. While they are prisoners of war, the Geneva Convention is supposed to protect them. Sadly, the women are being taken advantage of the over crowed camp, lack of food and other horrible conditions leads to sickness.
☀️
As a way to build morale they come up with an idea that gives some hope to those around them. The bravery these women have is amazing. Something happens as these women come together and vow not to talk about. This is an emotional read, but Morris always makes us dig deep and gives us an important and emotional part of history.
☀️
Thank you St. Martins Press and MacMillian Audio for these advanced copies. This novel is out October 24, 2023
#sistersundertherisingson, #heathermorris, #macmillianaudio, #stmartinspress, #netgalley, #bookreview, #audioreview, #bookstagram, #booksconnectus, #stamperlady50

This book was absolutely fantastic. The Tatooist of Auschwitz is one of my all time favorites and this one was just as good. It was part of the war that I wasn't as familiar with. The women in this story were strong, brave and heroic. I loved the ending and am recommending this to anyone who enjoys the historical fiction genre.

Sisters Under the Rising Sun is yet another WWII historical fiction but this one takes place on an island in the Pacific at a POW camp. It is based on a true story.
I struggled with this one a bit. Look, I'm grateful to the author for introducing me to these women and their heroism but it wasn't all that interesting as a novel. I can't tell you how many times I actually said out loud, "wait... who is this now?" There were so many characters. And most had similar names. I understand that historically many women DID have the same or similar sounding names but the author should have consolidated them.
Characters were also plopped into the narrative out of thin air and readers were expected to just know who they were (and they were NOT historical figures). At 66% a death is written in a way that I guess was supposed to make readers feel shocked and saddened but I just felt confused... Who the heck is this person? They were NEVER mentioned beforehand.
I also had a hard time believing that the women never fought amongst themselves. Really? Everyone was friends and got along perfectly? The only instance of arguing I found was when they were discussing pavlova and who "invented" it.
I listened to the audiobook while following along with the kindle version and I will say that helped keep a few characters separate. The narrator did a decent job with accents (Australian, Scottish, English, American, and English with a Dutch accent) as far as I could tell.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was unique in its location and its occupants; the POWs are British, Dutch and Australian (one American) civilians and nurses (all women) on a remote island off the coast of Indonesia and captured by the Japanese. The story of friendship, love, resilience and survival is inspiring and heartbreaking. The nurses helped heal and created a makeshift hospital wherever they went (the camp was moved several times) and with the civilians (including sisters who “adopted” a parentless child) these women worked together to form a semblance of a life while being starved and worked to death by their captors.

I do have some issues with this novel and those issues may be tied with the fact that I am the granddaughter of a WWII POW. From my research POW camps were far more awful than what was presented in this novel, and even with her descriptions I feel that the author was catering to a more sensitive reader. While much is alluded to, I would have preferred things had been more directly addressed. I believe Morris was trying to present a story where the women maintained their kindness and dignity throughout a time of pain and deprivation, but she definitely focused on the kindness and dignity more. This being said, I did enjoy the story and the women and I am glad that I read/listened to it. The narrator was quite good and made the audio a pleasure to listen to – I listened to the first half of the book and was so drawn to it that I put down my other book to finish this one.

3.75

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the Audio to review

🎧4.75⭐️

I had the audiobook read by Laura Carmichael known from Downton Abbey. She does a fabulous job with the narration. I was very impressed.

I’ve read several other books by this author and thoroughly enjoyed them. They aren’t easy reading due to the subject matter, but very well written and capture the reader.

As Singapore falls to the Japanese British families and Australian nurses are evacuated on a ship. The ship is sunk, the survivors end up in a Japanese POW camp. There are also Dutch women with them including nuns along with an American Mrs Hinch. It concentrates predominantly on the Australian nurses, particularly Nora and Nesta.


It’s a story of the struggle for survival, showing their endurance, and unbroken spirit. The story is bleak and heart wrenching, the characters are so well portrayed I had the utmost admiration for their enduring spirit and perseverance in the harshest of conditions, and the way the nurses tried to help the others. The women are very likeable and caring. I was rooting for them all to survive their internment.

The ending was incredibly emotional.
Another great addition to the WW2
stories from this author, an aspect I had known little of, only watching the tv drama Tenko.
Listening to Nora’s vocal arrangement of Bolero was amazing!
I highly recommend this book if WW2 books are for you. Especially the audiobook version for the brilliant narration.

A beautiful story of strength, resilience, love, and the power of music. This story was made even more beautiful by the narration and music in the audiobook. I will be recommending Sisters Under the Rising Sun to all of my audiobook friends.

I have read many World War II books. Still, this book was my first about how the Imperial Japanese captured a group of Australian women in 1942 and held them in brutal conditions in a camp in the Indonesian jungle. This book follows Norah Chambers, Nesta James, and fellow women prisoners of the Japanese imperial camps. I loved that Norah uplifted the women’s spirits by creating a sense of belonging and community through music. I also loved how dedicated and determined Nesta was to provide medical care for those in the camps. These women were resilient and could give each other a sense of community and belonging despite their brutal conditions. Morris gave the group of women a voice that not many authors would have written about, which made the book more interesting.

I had no idea what to expect going into Sisters Of The Rising Sun, but this story was an absolute masterpiece. I listened to the audiobook within two days, and I am still recovering from walking in the women’s journey. The audiobook was great to listen to, and Laura Carmichael did an excellent job as the narrator. The Sydney Women’s Vocal Orchestra added a special touch to the musical aspect of the story.

Thank to NetGalley and to Macmillan Audio for giving me a copy of the audiobook.

Sisters come in all forms: familial, religious, nursing, and friends. This is a story of these different sisterhoods forged in the worse conditions as it is the story of the female inmates of a Japanese POW camp in the Sumatran jungle. Together they must survive, and music is a powerful part of that when one of the women, Norah Chambers, forms a vocal orchestra to build resilience and bring a small bit of joy to the otherwise miserable and terrifying camp.

I’m so happy I listened to this audiobook narrated by Laura Carmichael, who does a brilliant job of bringing the characters to life. Plus, the integration of music, performed by the Sydney Women’s Vocal Orchestra, adds to the story. It is very sad, and very powerful demonstrating the power and resilience of women.

Themes: 👯‍♀️👩🏾‍⚕️🗺️📍🧭🇯🇵💪🎶🎼

My thoughts:
🙂😟😥😪🥺😩😀

#netgalley
@netgalley
#macmillanaudio
@macmillan.audio
#audiobook
#goodreads
#readmorebooks
#readmorebooksbywomen
#lovereading
#historicalfiction
#mybookishlife
#readersofinstagram
#bookstagram
#bookstagrammer

I was really excited about this when I read the summary, but it fell flat for me.
I don’t think there was enough character development for me to be invested and I was confused throughout the book because if it. I don’t think I would have finished, but having been provided an early copy I stuck with it because I wanted to be able to provide a fair review.

Heather Morris brings to the table a deeply moving tale about a group of Australian military nurses during war encompassed in survival, friendship, bravery, and determination.

The narrator was pleasant and presented a heartfelt performance with gorgeous music as well.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This equally inspiring and heartbreaking story must be added to your list. If possible, listen to the audio book as the added sounds and authors note at the end are truly the cherry on top of a story that I couldn't stop listening to while at the same time wishing it had never occurred to be told. Heather Morris does a remarkable job honoring these heroic women.

Thank you #MacMillanAudio and #Netgalley for the #arc.

From Heather Morris, the #1 “New York Times” bestselling author of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” comes “Sisters Under the Rising Sun,” a story of sisterhood, bravery, and friendship.

In the midst of World War II, Norah Chambers, an English musician, evacuates Singapore on the Vyner Brooke merchant ship, along with her husband, John, her sister, Ena, and her brother-in-law, Ken. Two days later, the ship is bombed by the Japanese and sinks off the coast of Indonesia. Also on the ill-fated ship is Sister Nesta James, a nurse with the Australian Army. Once on land, the survivors are captured by the Japanese and taken to the first of many POW camps, where the women and children are separated from the men. The camps are places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. For three years and seven months, the women and children live under the harshest of conditions. Sisters in arms, they must fight every day to help each other survive.

Based on real experiences of real women, “Sisters Under the Rising Sun” is a powerful and compelling novel that will stay with me long after reading it. In the Author’s Notes, Heather Morris writes, “I have not told this story so the women…will be remembered. I have told this story so they will be known. How can you be remembered if you’ve never been heard of?” Now that I know of these inspirational and brave woman, I will remember them. Norah, Nesta, Ena, Vivian, Audrey, Betty, Sister Catherina, Mrs. Hinch, Margaret, Dr. McDowell, and so many more. Their suffering and courageousness will not be forgotten. This was a beautiful and powerful story of sisterhood, friendship, found family, bravery.

I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook narrated by Laura Carmichael (“Downton Abbey”). The audiobook includes a dedication, author's note, and two afterwords, all read by the author, as well as two songs by the Sydney Women’s Vocal Orchestra with clips from both songs throughout the narration. Ms. Carmichael is truly one of the best narrators I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to, and her ability to voice all of the characters from all over the world was remarkable. The author’s note was incredibly moving, and I shed a few tears as the women’s real-life stories were told.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Heather Morris, renowned for her captivating storytelling in "The Tattooist of Auschwitz," once again delivers in "Sisters Under the Rising Sun." This novel provides a unique perspective on World War II, immersing readers in the vivid portrayal of life in Japanese POW camps. Music shines as a potent symbol of hope and resilience throughout the narrative, with the audiobook format adding an extra layer of immersion through musical clips, making it an essential listen for both music enthusiasts and historical fiction fans.

I really enjoyed the audio version of this book because you got to hear some of the songs that were discussed. The story was obviously heavy and a little depressing. It’s a part of history history. I didn’t really know anything about and if you’re into stories about World War III, this would be a good one.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an ARC of this audiobook.

Listening to the audiobook of this novel was such a gift. Laura Carmichael did an incredible job of narrating the book. Her portrayal of the characters brought so much emotion and feeling to the story. I have read several books by Heather Morris, but this was by far my favorite. This may have been partly due to the narration of Ms. Carmichael and the music that accompanied the book, which helped to make the scenes when the women joined together to perform music so real. Two of the women in the story were musicians. Without any instruments, they formed a choir and performed concerts for the other women. This helped to keep up the spirits of the women and to give them a sense of hope.

This is a very different WWII story and a part of history I was not aware of. This book follows several nurses and other women who were taken as prisoners by the Japanese, while they were trying to escape Singapore after the Japanese had invaded. They were held for over three years under terrible conditions. It is mostly a story of the resilience, courage and companionship of this incredible group of women. We find out at the end that all of these women were real. In the author's note at the end, we learned more about each one of these women and what happened to them after they were released. This book will certainly appeal to fans of Heather Morris and other historical fiction readers who enjoy stories about inspirational women.

Sisters Under the Rising Sun by Heather Morris
Narrated by Laura Carmichael

I'm so glad I was able to hear the audiobook of this story. Music plays a part in the telling of this story since an English musician, Norah Chambers, uses her extensive musical talents to help the women prisoners of the Japanese army endure their terrible situation by creating a voice orchestra, making use of the talents of the captive women who could sing or act as instruments, using the sounds of their voices. Missionary Margaret Dryburgh was her partner in creating this choir/orchestra along with the many other creative groups that Margaret started while the women were in captivity. Both women remember music from memory and also wrote music and songs for the women to perform. It is amazing the life that these creative and inspiring women live while they were suffering great deprivation during their long captivity. During the story and after the story is over, we get to hear the songs and music performed and I could not help getting teary eyed, knowing these women could do so much when they had so little. What they did have was each other and they made the most of their talents, whether it was nursing, writing, cleaning sewerage, growing what little they could with what little they had, squeezing meals out of meager food supplies, or picking weevils out of their rice while joking that at least the weevils supplied protein to their diet.

At the beginning of the story we meet Norah, her sister, and her husband as they are evacuating Singapore on the Vyner Brooke, a ship that is bombed and sunk by the Japanese. Also on the ill fated ship was Nesta James, one of 64 Australian evacuating nurses. Those that survive the shipwreck and attacks by the Japanese, once on land, are captured and taken to the first of many POW camps where they well try to stay alive despite starvation and brutality. This group of women lived over three and half years under these severe conditions with hundreds of women dying before being released. We meet many heroic nurses, missionaries, and other women with so many giving everything they had to help each other make it from one day to the next. These camps also contained children and great sacrifices were made when it came to food, in the hopes that the children could live through the internment.

I appreciate the dedication, two afterwards, and author's note at the end of the book. I always want to know more when I read historical fiction and Heather Morris supplied me with so much that I wanted to know and gave me an idea of where to look for more about these amazing women. Laura Carmichael narrated the story beautifully. Despite the extreme sadness I felt at times, there were also happy moments, which just goes to show the resiliency of humans during great suffering.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.

It’s no secret I love WWII historical fiction, but the market is rampant with stories from France, England, and Germany. Sisters Under the Rising Sun tells of a group of women captured by the Japanese and held captive in a prisoner of war camp on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Nesta is Welsh by birth but serves the Australian army as a nurse in Singapore. Though she is small in stature, her personality is big and that serves her well. Norah is a musician from England living in Singapore with her parents, husband, and daughter Sally. Everyone flees as the country is no longer considered safe. Norah sends her own young daughter ahead with her in laws on a different ship as she works to get transport for her sick husband. Both Nesta and Norah end up on the merchant ship the Vyner Brooke.

As they flee Singapore, the Vyner Brooke is attacked from Japanese bombers, and everyone aboard tries to evacuate before the ship sinks. Lucky few end up in lifeboat, many find any piece of the destroyed ship to float on, and several drown. After twenty-four hours in the sea the survivors reach a remote island where they think they are safe, until they are captured by the Japanese army. The army divides the men from the women and children and send them to separate POW camps.

The rest of the book tells a story of sisterhood, of the women who made the most out of their awful situation cut off from everyone they love and the rest of the world. The woman were held for years in deplorable conditions reduced to awful decisions in order to survive. But underneath the filth, misery, and starvation, the woman found beauty in the most unexpected places. Friendship, music, and bravery kept their spirits bolstered until rescue.
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and the author Heather Morris for the advanced copy of the audiobook, which includes beautiful music inspired by Norah’s voice orchestra to accompany the story. Sisters Under the Rising Sun is out on October 24th. All opinions are my own.

This is my first audio book and I can say that I much prefer a physical book to this format.

Sisters Under The Rising Sun is a very different story of WWII and imprisonment by the Japanese. The book is heartbreaking how the women captives were mistreated. Despite the horrific conditions, the women showed compassion, love, determination and above all else hope. This story is about sisterhood, strength and the will to survive.

The story starts with people being evacuated from Singapore and Norah and John are separated from their daughter Sally. A group of nurses are with them on the same ship. After many are taken prisoner we see the horrors and awful treatment they receive. Will they survive to be rescued and reunited with loved ones?

Heather Morris provides another great WWII book based on real people and events. An inspiring story about perseverance in terrible conditions. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advance copy of this story.

This was an ARC of both the ebook and the audiobook. The subject matter is very interesting but the execution of the writing left a lot to be desired, in my opinion. There were a lot of characters to keep straight and there weren't any good transitions from one point of view to the other. I felt the writing was lacking in creativity as well. It was written in a "she did this, then they did that" format. That may be purposeful to appeal to different readers. I personally don't like that, especially in fiction. It made it hard to connect with the characters and the evils perpetrated on them. Normally I would be a mess reading of some of the crimes committed towards these women and the other prisoners, but with the way the book is written, I was very detached. The book lacked creativity in descriptions, the same phrases were used multiple times, and any good thing that happened was immediately followed by something terrible. I did appreciate that this didn't read as a screenplay masquerading as a novel. This is an important part of the stories regarding WWII and it is a decent novel for just beginning the journey on researching what happened to the nurses and women and children after they were imprisoned by the Japanese. I enjoyed the audiobook more than I did as an ebook.

Sisters Under the Rising Sun
By: Heather Morris
Narrated By: Laura Carmichael
Review Score: 4 Stars

Boogie’s Bulletpoints
-The audiobook is incredible! I loved being read to by Lady Edith from Downton Abbey
-This book takes place in the Pacific theater during World War 2.
-You really feel how awful conditions were in the Japanese POW Camp.
-Morris does an amazing job of taking you into the camp, where you feel the resilience of these women.
-There is a ton of data in this book, and it does feel a bit slow at times, but that doesn’t take away from how powerful this story is.

———
Sisters Under the Rising Sun was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book! Release Date: 10/24/23 Heather Morris always does such an amazing job of weaving true stories into powerful pieces of historical fiction. Sisters Under the Rising Sun is no exception to that. I learned so much about the Japanese POW camp, which is a part of World War 2 I am not as familiar with. It is amazing what these women do to survive, as they attempt to make their camps more habitable, all while dealing with hunger and disease. This was an amazing book, and so well written. #bookstagram #books #readingnow #boogiereadsbooks #fivekeyfeels #audiobooks #audiobook #arcreview #historicalfiction #netgalley #boogiesbulletpoints #sistersundertherisingsun #heathermorris #stmartinspress #worldwar2