Sisters Under the Rising Sun - Heather Morris

When nurse, Nesta James, and English musician Norah Chambers find themselves on the Vyner Brooke, fleeing Singapore to escape the Japanese in February 1942, disaster strikes the ship they’re on and nothing is the same again. Captured by the Japanese they have to find strength in places that make them weak, yet they stand united as one, lifting each other up as they endeavour a journey full of disease, exhaustion, starvation, and heartbreak.

This story highlights events of World War II that many people are unaware of. It focuses on Japanese prisoners of war, who were held for just over three years with little food and extremely poor living conditions. Many died, and many suffered the consequences of this prolonged period of deprivation for years after their release.

I was genuinely fascinated to learn more about this side of the war, and I was deeply moved by it. It broke my heart to read the true stories of two women who survived to tell their experiences to their children, who then passed the stories on to their own children. And eventually, writers turned these memories into novels that retell the events these people endured, in great detail.

Despite Morris's hard work on this novel, I feel her writing style let the story down by being too technical rather than descriptive. It felt very straight to the point, without much in the way of setting description or character building. While this directness might suit the topic and genre, it prevented me from connecting with the characters on a deeper level. Firstly, they didn’t feel real enough, and secondly, I didn’t have enough time to build a connection with them because I only knew about their jobs and immediate families - due to the lack of descriptive writing. The dialogue didn't offer much insight into their personalities, which is crucial in storytelling; the way someone speaks can reveal a lot about them, and this novel was missing that element.

However, the core story was strong. Morris clearly did extensive research on this topic, interviewing family members of the women involved, and she portrayed it all in a plot that likely closely resembled the actual events. I particularly appreciated the additional sections at the end of the story where Morris provides informative profiles of each woman she mentions, detailing what they did after the war. She also listed all the women in the Australian Army Nursing Service, including those who died. The photographs of the women were a great addition too; I found they helped solidify the characters I had just read about. In other words, the photos made each character feel more real. Having a face to associate with each name gave me insights into their personalities that Morris's character descriptions didn't provide.

I did really enjoy this read despite its flaws. It’s a novel that’s made me want to read her other books and I’m looking forward to the day that I do. Stories from the war are interesting to me, and if it’s a type of history you enjoy as well, I would highly recommend giving Heather Morris’s books a go. I found myself to be quite tearful towards the end of Sister’s Under the Rising Sun and it’s quite hard to get a tear out of me when a book’s involved, so I give her an extra star for that. She moved me with her words, and for a story like this, that’s all I ask for.

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