Lost Women of Rabaul

Book excerpt: The inspirational true story behind the hit ABC-TV drama “Sisters of War”. Travel with a group of captured Australian nurses into the dark heart of the ascendant Japanese Empire at the start of the Pacific War. Quiver with the nurses, abandoned by their own government, as they raise their hands in surrender to Japanese troops swathed in jungle camouflage. Witness the intrigues of international diplomacy and the fog of war as loyalties are tested, confidences betrayed and acts of defiance made at great personal risk. Retreat into the private world of the women’s diaries, where poetry, memory and hope could still be kept alive. Cower before the might of the US War Machine that incinerated Tokyo, with firestorms, hunger and the ever-present threat of Japanese “die-hards” still holding complete power over the women. Thrill to the joy of liberation and the amazing priority given to the Lost Women, as they became the very first liberated prisoners to be airlifted to Australia … But why? Australian nurses captured and at the mercy of the rampaging Japanese Empire; how did they survive and what were the international secrets that determined their fate?