In the book Sisters Under the Rising Sun, Norah and Ena care for a little girl named June whose mother had died when their ship, the Vyner Brooke, wrecked. After being imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp, the women and children suffered through fierce starvation and abuse. A few times in the book, the women find opportunities to buy food from local traders. June always requests the same treat– a banana. In celebration of this wonderful story, I am pairing this book with one of my favorite flavor combinations. Enjoy this recipe for Ooey Gooey Banana Bars with Salted Caramel Buttercream, courtesy of I Am Baker.

  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: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️