Physical description

Title is printed across the middle of the cover in large white text, followed by the sub title in smaller green print below. There is a photo of Sister Betty Jeffrey in the top left corner and the bottom half of the page shows an image of a group of ten nurses posing for a photo. The background of the cover is dense green jungle.

Publication type

non-fiction

Inscriptions & markings

'TO THE RETURNED NURSES / RSL SUB BRANCH OF VICTORIA / [?] 22.VII.2023' [Handwritten in black onk on the first page]

Summary

The incredible account of Sister Betty Jeffrey OAM and the Australian war nurses who survived the bombing of evacuation ship SS Vyner Brooke in February 1942, and subsequently spent three years in Japanese prison camps in Sumatra. During those perilous years surviving in squalid conditions, Sister Jeffrey kept a secret diary of day-to-day events which, after the war, was turned into a hugely successful book and radio serial: White Coolies. She would often write of the powerful sisterhood that evolved as the prisoners of war took strength from each other, even forming a vocal orchestra. White Coolies was a major inspiration for the 1997 film Paradise Road. Sisters in Captivity builds on those diaries to not only re-live the years the nurses spent as POWs but also recounts the early life and influences that encouraged Betty Jeffrey into the field of nursing as a lifelong endeavour. A tireless advocate for returned nurses, she co-founded the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre with sole survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, fellow POW, and her longtime friend Vivian Bullwinkel. Featuring 32 pages of photos including personal mementos of Betty Jeffrey, courtesy of her family, and her drawings from the prison camps, this is a powerful account of women's resilience amidst the devastating brutality of war.--Back cover.