Page 1 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun
Prologue
Singapore
February 1942
Norah Chambers sits on Sally’s bed, waiting for her daughter to wake up. The conversation that follows is the most painful of her life. Telling her of the decision she and her husband, John, have made to send Sally away with her aunt Barbara and cousins is received just as she expected. She holds on tight to her distraught little girl, desperate to stay with her mum and dad, crying that she will not leave them, not now, not ever. Even when her two cousins burst into the room full of the news that they are about to embark on an adventure, and sail the seas no less, Sally barely registers their presence.
‘Sally, we’re going to Australia!’ they chant. ‘On a big ship!’
Singapore is falling; what choice does Norah have? John is in hospital with typhus. As soon as he is better, they will follow, she promises Sally.
On the car journey to the wharf Sally doesn’t stop crying, her face turned away from her mother to the window. Norah’s attempts to comfort her are shrugged off. As they walk to the boat, Sally wraps her small arms tight around her mother’s waist. It’s going to be hard to let go, for either of them.
An explosion nearby only compounds their fear, their terror of what lies ahead, and Sally’s cries erupt into petrified screams. Norah is frozen, numbed by the horror of what she is witnessing, the distress she is causing to the most precious person in her life. As the world explodes around them, Barbara swiftly lifts Sally into her arms and runs to the waiting gangplank.
‘Daddy and I will be right behind you. Be a good girl, my darling, we’ll be with you in a few days, I promise,’ Norah screams after her daughter.
Sally continues to sob, her arms reaching for her mother. Norah takes an involuntary step forwards, only to have her younger sister, Ena, grab her arm and pull her away. They watch as Barbara and Sally disappear onto the deck and out of sight. There will be no happy waving from the boat or the dockside, from either mother or daughter.
‘Will I ever see her again?’ Norah cries.
Part I
The Fall of Singapore
Chapter 1
Singapore
February 1942
‘I don’t want to go! Please. Please don’t make us go, Norah.’
Ena Murray’s cries are swallowed up by the screams of women and children, by explosions erupting around them and the screeching of Japanese warplanes overhead.
‘Run! Run!’ parents implore their sons and daughters, but it’s too late. Another missile hits its target and the allied ship harboured in the Singapore wharf flies apart.
As the shrapnel rains down, Norah’s husband, John, and Ena’s husband, Ken Murray, crouch beside their wives, shielding them from the flying debris. But no good will come of staying put. Ken helps the sisters to their feet, while John, gasping for breath, tries to stand.
‘Ena, we have to get on, we have to go now!’ Norah is still imploring her sister to board HMSVyner Brooke. There is may- hem all around, a terrible urgency to get as far away as possible from this chaos, to find sanctuary. Norah takes a brief moment to wrap her arms around her husband. John should still be in hospital; he is so weak, and can barely catch his breath, but he would use the last ounce of his strength to protect these women.
‘Ena, please listen to your sister,’ says Ken. ‘You have to leave, my darling. I’m going back to your parents, I promise I will take care of them.’
‘They’reourparents,’ Norah replies. ‘It’s us who should be looking after them.’
‘You have a daughter somewhere out there, Norah,’ says Ken. ‘You and John have to find Sally. And you must look after Ena for me too.’ Ken knows he is the only one who can stay in Singapore to take care of his parents-in-law. John is desperately sick and so is the women’s father, James – too sick to attempt to leave. Margaret, their mother, has refused to abandon him.
Another bomb erupts close by and everyone ducks. Behind them, Singapore is on fire; ahead, the sea is littered with the burning wrecks of ships, boats, big and small.
‘Go! Go while you still can. If the ship doesn’t leave now, it won’t get out of the harbour, and you need to be on board.’ Ken yells to be heard. He kisses Norah, squeezes John’s arm and pulls Ena into a tight embrace, kissing his wife one last time before he pushes her towards the ship.
‘I love you,’ Ena calls out, her voice breaking.
‘Get out of this hellhole. Find Sally. Find Barbara and the boys. I won’t be far behind you,’ Ken shouts to their retreating figures.
Norah, John and Ena are amidst the crowd of passengers now, forced to move along the wharf towards the ship.
‘Sally, we have to find Sally,’ John mumbles, his legs giving way beneath him. Norah and Ena each take an arm and hurry him along.
