Wirral Life Issue 73 | Page 13

REVIEW OF HEATHER MORRIS ' SISTERS UNDER THE RISING SUN ' BY SUE PORTER

The New book from the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz .

1942 . Singapore is falling to the Japanese Army . English musician Norah Chambers places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore , desperate to keep her safe . As the island burns , Australian nurse Nesta James joins the terrified cargo of people , including the heartbroken Norah , crammed aboard the HMS Vyner Brooke . After only two days at sea , the ship is bombarded and sunk .

Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of Indonesia only to be captured and held in one of the notorious Japanese POW camps , places of starvation and brutality .

But even here joy can be found , in music , where Norah ' s ' voice orchestra ' transports the internees from squalor into light . The friendships they build with the dozens of other women in the camps will give them the hope , strength and camaraderie they need in order to stay alive .

Sisters under the Rising Sun tells the story of women in war : a story of bravery , friendship and laughter in the darkest of circumstances , from the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz , Cilka ' s Journey and Three Sisters .