This follow up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz can be read as a standalone. This tells the aftermath of WWII, and what happened to the survivors who were "released" from concentration camps, but still seen as enemies of the Soviet Russian state.

I loved the Tattooist of Auschwitz! I was so excited when I saw that we got to learn more about Cilka. While it had its very dark, depressing moments- you also see that good people will always exist.

Cilka’s Journey is what happens AFTER Auschwitz. Cilka is sentenced to hard labor for simply doing what needed to be done to survive “the other place”. This is is her fight to survive. To grow. To help others. To remind us-
Good will always win!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think i actually like this one better than the first. I am still upset that people had to go through this torture. This book didn't seem as graphic as the first one did. The characters were all well developed however i would have given a little bit more information on Cilka and her journey from the beginning. She was resourceful, kind, and always looking our for those that couldn't help themselves. I liked that she was always trying to help others no matter what department she was in. I will recommend this to my friends and appreciate getting the chance to read this.

After reading and loving The Tattooist of Auschwitz last year, I was so eager to read Cilka’s Journey. Her story is beyond tragic, and it was heartbreaking to follow her journey and learn about what she continued to endure even after she was “freed” from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The most poignant parts of this book, for me, were the survivor’s guilt and shame that Cilka battled despite her hardships. Yes, I was deeply impacted by the torture that she faced; but as if enduring that was not hard enough, I felt that Morris truly captured the complex emotions of survival.

I really enjoyed the format for the book, alternating between the present day and flashbacks to her time at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It felt very human, to live chronologically but be triggered by current experiences to memories of the past. This was a quick, easy read; but my one critique would be that the writing came across a bit too simple at times. Overall, really enjoyed this book and learned so much about the Soviet gulag system during the Stalin era.

The sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

This is the story of Cilka, which is based on the real life of Cecília Kováčová. She was a 16 year old character from book #1 The Tattooist of Auschwitz . She was a forced sex slave of a Nazi SS commandant.

I read this one as a fictional story as I'm not sure which parts are factual. Either way, her story is gripping, compelling and utterly heartbreaking. I loved Cilka's strength and courage. Every day was a struggle with new obstacles and little hope, but her instinct for survival was strong.

We follow Cilka as she is charged as a collaborator by the Russian government. She is sent to the gulags in Siberia. It was hard to read about how dire and horrific the prisoners were treated. I was invested in her story and pulling for her to make it through.

A compelling historical fiction novel with a character who felt very "real" to me and one I'll remember.

Mesmerizing. Thought-provoking Even though I read the author notes first and knew the ending, I couldn't put it down.

‘A taste for sadistic irony was just one of the many traits that Nazi Germany and Stalin’s USSR shared.’- Heather Morris

I was very excited to see this novel was continuing Cilka’s story from The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It was sad & enraging learning about the Soviet Gulag camps and how similar they were to German concentration camps. So overshadowed by Hitlers atrocities Stalin was able to get away with less accountability. I wish Morris’s storytelling had been as passionate as she was when relaying her journey in researching Cilka’s life. Though I liked the story it lacked depth for me. Felt like reading bullet points of information with no emotion behind them. Would still recommend highly not necessarily for the writing but definitely for the information. 4 stars.

This is the second book in The Tattooist of Auschwitz series by Heather Morris but can also be read as a standalone. Hauled off to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp when Cilka Klein was sixteen, she survived the horrifying years with smarts and the strongest of wills. Having caught the eye of a high Nazi official, she was subjected to brutality and sexual exploitation that she bore in order to stay alive and helped many prisoners while also helplessly being unable to prevent the deaths of many others. The end of the war saw freedom for Cilka. But her hopes were dashed and her life imperiled when she was labeled a collaborator and hauled off a second time in her short life - to a gulag in Vorkuta in Russia. Her sentence: 15 years. Conflicted by her years at Auschwitz she guards against her women prison mates finding out about her “elevated” status there. But someone knows and she’s forever on tenterhooks and attempts to keep a low profile. But Cilka is soon noticed by a woman doctor who teaches her the basics of nursing and before long she is helping to take care of the sick under terrible circumstances. And her memories from Auschwitz continue to haunt her… A haunting historical fiction that leaves the reader speculating…what would one do if you were Cilka? What decisions would you make under those horrific conditions with virtually no choice? Hard questions to contemplate…Overall, I preferred this book over the first one. Besides the storyline, I felt that Morris' writing style has matured, the flow was a lot more even, and Cilka’s character was well developed - complex, conflicted, selfless, and yet scarred - you feel her pain and experiences with her - nicely done. A definite recommended read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.
Cilka's Journey gave me the opportunity to learn about a topic I've never really learned about, or even heard about before: the Gulags (prison camps) that thousands and thousands of people in and around the Soviet Union were forced to attend. Some of these prisoners were criminals; some, like Cilka, were undeserving of their sentence and were subjected to it even after surviving the horrors of the Holocaust camps. I can't imagine how awful it would be to finally think I was free, and then be sentenced to years in prison. However, this is what Cilka endured. The best thing about this story was hearing how she managed to stay hopeful and find a way to help others despite the terrible circumstances. All of the words and adjectives I write could never even begin to describe the things that she and so many others went through. This book is the best type; it does more than just tell a story. It teaches about things that happened in our past so that people like me, who haven't learned as much about the world, have the opportunity to know what happened and be a part of resisting these terrible things from ever happening again.
This all being said, I can honestly say I didn't enjoy Cilka's Journey as much as the Tattooist of Auschwitz. There were parts of Cilka's Journey that were so, so touching, but it didn't have the same hopeful feel as Lale's character brought. I found some of the characters annoying and there were times where I was frustrated by the petty drama. I'm sure the drama existed, I just think it would've been cool to hear more about Cilka's time working in her different professions that she worked at in the camp. However, this is probably a personal preference and doesn't reflect on Heather Morris. Again, I'm in awe of the time she must have spent and the research she completed in order to write this book.

I received the ARC of this book from St. Martin's Press. I wanted to fully appreciate the story, so I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz before I began this book. I would recommend that for others also. While Cilka's Journey can be read independently, I think the reader would gain much knowledge and background if read after The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

This book is based on true events, but the writer has taken the facts and created a fiction story. I think Heather Morris did an amazing job of creating this emotional journey. Honestly this book is totally out of my comfort zone. I try to keep my reading choices light, but when this book came across my path, I felt compelled to read it. I am glad that I did.

This is a powerfully emotional story of how so much strength is needed to survive, how cruel people can be, that friendships can carried you through the worse situations that joy can be found in the simplest things when you have nothing. The story was heartbreaking but also uplifting, since Cilka persevered.

I want to thank St. Martin's press for giving me a nudge to read this book (and also The Tattooist of Auschwitz). My review is my own opinion, not influenced by receiving the ARC of this book.

I tend to gravitate towards this time period. Although it hurts my heart to read what these people had to endure by the cruelest of people. I love Cilka but who wouldn't? She is selfless time and time again. She holds no grudges with bunkmates or other prisoners that may have done wrong to her. She has a human understand beyond her years. Forced to gown up at such a young age and to face so much more then the average person would ever have. Heather Morris depicts the Holocaust better then other authors. If she continues writing books about that horrible time I will continue to read them.

Thank You NetGalley and St. Martins Press for giving me this ARC in return for my honest review. It was a pleasure reading this book.

In 1942 at age sixteen, Cilka Klein was taken to The Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp where she suffered for years at the hands of the SS. When the camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945, Cilka is accused of sleeping with the enemy and sentenced to fifteen years of labor at the Siberian Vorkuta Gulag. Upon arrival, Cilka must endure the horrors of a new camp as she survives the harsh climate and brutal guards. Cilka’s story is one of resilience, heart, and courage.

I was so excited to read Cilka’s Journey when I learned that Heather Morris was releasing a follow up to her first novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Cilka is a strong, compassionate protagonist who endured unthinkable circumstances. This book is written on the third person so I found it difficult to connect with Cilka on an emotional level. Additionally, the writing lacked atmospheric description and became repetitive around the half way point. While I did like this book, I was hoping for something similar to The Tattooist of Auschwitz but the writing was more like a YA novel. I would recommend Cilka’s Journey to readers who are just getting into WWII historical fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A totally emotional follow up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz- following "Cikla's Journey" and what happened to her "after". Although a sequel to Tattooist, it reads well as a stand-alone novel..

Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, has written another remarkable and important book titled Cilka’s Journey. While it is a follow-up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, it is a completely standalone novel. Once again, Ms. Morris has done an incredible amount of research to tell this amazing story of one young girl’s harrowing journey, which began in a concentration camp and continued in the Siberian Gulag, 50 miles from the Arctic Circle. Cilka’s Journey is an inspiring testament to one women’s generosity, courage and determination to survive. While it is a novel, it is based on true events and a real person named Cilka Klein.

At the young age of 16, Cilka is taken to Auschwitz and is forced to become a Nazi officer’s sex slave. When the Russians liberate the concentration camp, they sentence her to 15 years in the Gulag for sleeping with the enemy, like she ever had a choice in the matter.

This book serves a very important purpose in that it exposes the horrors of the Gulag and the oppression and inhumanity that many dealt with at the hands of the Russians. There are many reasons that individuals were imprisoned in the Gulag, such as marrying a foreigner, making garments for a Nazi General’s wife, etc.

Cilka is haunted by her time in Auschwitz-Birkenau and feels cursed. Death is her constant companion and is always around her. She fears she will bring it to those she befriends. Cilka also feels she loses people from her life, not necessarily by death, all too often. Eventually, her fellow prisoners in her hut become her family and help her to survive.

She has lost everything — her childhood, family, dignity, hope, and a future. Yet in the face of all this atrocity , she strives to make a difference at the Gulag and yearns to help those around her. Cilka easily overcomes any fear in order to save others. She will walk into a collapsing mine to look for survivors.

Cilka’s Journey is sad and heartbreaking yet compelling and triumphant. Cilka is a strong character that you will admire, care about and hope for during the telling of her story.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

When I finished "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" I wondered what happened to Cilka, a young girl whose beauty condemned her to being charged with collaboration with the Nazis. This book continues Cilka's story as she is sent to a Russian Gulag in Siberia for a sentence of fifteen years. "Cilka's Journey" is an amazing testament to resilience and courage in the face of unspeakable brutality and horror. The bravery and selflessness Cilka showed throughout her life was inspiring and wondrous. Heather Morris does a brilliant job of bringing Cilka and her brutal environment to life. I highly recommend this extraordinary book!

I recently finished The Tattooist of Auschwitz and fell in love with the two main characters, Lale and Gita. But there was another character in that book that left an impression on me as well, Cilka Klein. When I heard Heather Morris was releasing a sequel, Cilka's Journey I was thrilled. And I was super excited when Netgalley and St. Martin's Press offered me an ARC to read and review "the rest of the story". I loved this story, maybe even more than the first one. Cilka endured so much in Auschwitz, then was sent to Vorkuta gulag in Siberia after the war. She spent 10 years there. While the other Auschwitz survivors were trying to heal and get on with life, she was living another hell in prison. I've been reading a lot of historic fiction lately, and Cilka's Journey is one of my favorites.

Confession: I haven't read The Tatooist of Auschwitz yet but I really enjoyed this book. The author obviously did a good deal of research for this story. It was interesting to learn about the Gulags and the horrific conditions in them. It's gut wrenching to think that people were forced to live in such conditions.

I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley.. All opinions in this review are my own.

In her follow-up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris freely admits that she has taken considerable literary license “filling in the blanks” as she tells the story of a woman who survives Auschwitz, only to find herself locked away again. Cilka Klein, Morris’s inspiration for his narrative is 16 years old when she enters Auschwitz-Birkenau and 18 years old when the camp is liberated by Soviet soldiers. Much to her surprise she is accused of collaboration with the Germans and sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in a Russian Gulag.

While portions of the story are the work of the author’s imagination those who know some of the history of WWII are aware that Russia had been invaded by the Nazis in 1941 and that 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war as well as civilians were deliberately starved to death, or otherwise killed via the Hunger Plan, which aimed at replacing Russia’s Slavic population with German settlers as well as gaining the Russian oil reserves..
After the war Russian “liberators” were out to rebuild their country as well as to mete out some vengeance against the Germans who had treated them so brutally in the past as well as anyone who was thought to have aided in the German cause.

I was surprised to learn that the Russians took captives, who had already suffered untold horrors at the hands of their German captors and miraculously managed to stay alive, sending them to Siberian gulags as slave labor as punishment for perceived collaboration with the enemy. (A sort of out of the frying pan and into the fire situation for these unfortunates).

The historical detail in Morris’s sharply written, well researched and compelling narrative are illustrative of Stalin’s actions at the end of the war and the brutal and inhumane conditions under which these holocaust survivors existed in the Soviet Gulags. Joseph Stalin was a tyrant whose philosophy and policies lasted well into the late 1950’s and almost make Adolph Hitler look benevolent by comparison.

The follow up novel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a fictionalized account of a real women, Cilka, who survived Auschwitz only to be sent to a Soviet Gulag. After three years of receiving "preferential treatment" as a victim of Nazi sexual abuse, Cilka is convicted by the Soviet Army as a a Nazi collaborator and put on a train to Siberia. The irony of a forced migration to a concentration camp at the hands of the liberators is not lost on Cilka, or the reader. This adult-for-YA novel shines light on the horrors of the Russian gulag system, the how unspeakable horror can either break or strengthen a person. For fans of Ruta Sepetys.

Cilka's Journey is told in the present, of her time in the Gulag, to the past of her time in Birkenau. After being set free at the end of WW2, poor Cilka is sent to the Gulag for 15 years as punishment for perceived crimes of colluding with the Nazis. She did what she needed to, to survive her time in Birkenau, as anyone would have done and it certainly didn't warrant being sent to hell on earth for 15 years.

Yet Cilka found a way to survive, she made herself useful and spent so much time helping others. When she had a chance to free herself, she often gave that opportunity to others. She had lost so many people she felt cursed, I imagine that being quite an unnecessary weight around her shoulders. This happened to her at such a young age, she hadn't even had time to grow up before being sent to Auschwitz.

Her journey is one that we can learn from as it was obvious she suffered from bouts of depression and how she found the strength to not only keep going but doing so in service of others, speaks to her strength. I requested to read this from St. Martin's because I especially enjoy reading WW2 Historical Fiction, and it never does get easier to read. I hope that everyone will see the benefit in reading such a story, she was an absolute inspiration.