Sisters Under the Rising Sun by Heather Morris

Sisters Under the Rising Sun by Heather Morris

From the New York Times bestselling author of the multi-million copy bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz comes a story of sisterhood and survival, inspired by a true story.

A phenomenal novel of resilience and survival from bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris.

In the midst of World War II, an English musician, Norah Chambers, places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific. Norah remains to care for her husband and elderly parents, knowing she may never see her child again.

Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke lies broken on the seabed.

After surviving a brutal 24 hours in the sea, Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of a remote island, only to be captured by the Japanese and held in one of their notorious POW camps. The camps are places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. Sisters in arms, Norah and Nesta fight side by side every day, helping whoever they can, and discovering in themselves and each other extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness and determination.

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

Heather Morris is a New Zealander who now lives in Australia. She studied and wrote screenplays for several years while working at a large public hospital in Melbourne, one of which was optioned by an Academy Award-winning screenwriter in the United States. Heather met an elderly gentleman in 2003 who'might just have a story worth telling,' according to Heather. Both of their lives were changed the day she met Lale Sokolov. As their connection deepened, Lale started on a voyage of self-discovery, confiding in her the most intimate secrets of his life during the Holocaust. Heather first penned Lale's narrative as a screenplay, which won awards in international competitions, before transforming it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.