WOW is all I can say. Another hit by Heather Morris. I did not think she would be able to top her last novel :The Tattooist of Auschwitz" but she did! This is the type of historical novel that I love. Where they do not go out of character to describe the history or the scene. Her writing style is wonderful where I just want to keep turning the page. This will be a book that I am going to read again! I loved how it is a stand alone book but also a "spin-off" from her last novel. The cover is great too. It made me want to read it before I even knew who the author was or the story itself. I highly recommend this book!

This is Cilka Klein’s story, who we met in the excellent The Tattooist of Auschwitz. As Auschwitz is being liberated in 1945, 18 year old Cilka assumes she will be freed. But after surviving the horrors of the concentration camp, she is sentenced to 15 years in Siberia at the Vorkuta Gulag. She is charged as a Nazi collaborator although her “crime” was doing what she had to do to survive which included being used and abused by a high ranking officer. A far cry from “sleeping with the enemy.” Her guilt and shame over what occurred while in the concentration camp leads Cilka to care more about helping others in the Gulag than herself including protecting a young woman she meets while being transported to this new prison. Cilka is able to work as a nurse in the hospital and demonstrates continued bravery and selflessness. This riveting book places the reader in this horrible setting where you can feel the suffering. Like the first book, this is a story of courage, love and the will to survive. Unforgettable.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Heather Morris for this ARC.

Like many others, I was fascinated by Heather Morris’ book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz about Lale Sokolov. During their time together, Mr. Sokolov told Heather Morris that Cilka Klein “was the bravest person” he ever met and said she was the person who saved his life. In their conversations Ms. Morris learned that Cilka, a very beautiful young girl of 16, was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and only survived by allowing herself to be repeatedly raped by two senior SS officers. The first part of her story is mentioned in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. In the epilogue the author states she received many inquiries as to what happened to Cilka. This novel is the answer to that question. While one would not need to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz prior to reading this book, I think would be helpful.

This novel starts right after Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is liberated by the Soviets. Cilka is immediately convicted, without a trial, of working with the enemy, as a prostitute and additionally as a spy . Her punishment is to be further imprisoned for fifteen years in the coldest place on earth, Vorkuta Gulag.

Cilka is a fascinating character. She is smart, loyal, and generous. She is befriended by a kind female physician, who allows Cilka to train as a nurse. Cilka is able to improve the condition of the nursery, and is a comfort to many people. She is brave and often entered dangerous situations as a member of the ambulance crew. Cilka was human too, often entering into dark periods because of the hopelessness she often found herself in. She lives with the guilt of her time at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Heather Morris has done a fantastic job of historical research to show us the horrendous conditions of the Vorkuta Gulag, where Trustees ruled in gangs, raped as many women prisoners as they pleased, and tormented the staff.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book that will be released on October 1, 2019. 5 stars.

I feel bad for giving this only three stars but I want to be honest. The book is obviously about Cilka, a young woman who survived Auschwitz Concentration Camp by sleeping with the enemy. After the war, Cilka is taken to a Siberian prison camp. With all of the foreign names and places, it is a little difficult to keep up with. It is a sad, depressing story. That is not the author’s fault- it definitely needs to be told but it makes the story hard to read. I wanted it to end but I couldn’t put it down. Cilka has a lot of horrible things happen to her but she also has some things happen that make no sense. I’ve read several others about the atrocities that happened during this time period but, for me it was the most difficult story to get through. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest opinion.

I was eager to read this book which continues Cilka’s journey after being released from Birkenau. After 3 years in hell, she was determined by the Russians to have aided the enemy and sentenced to 15 years to a gulag in Siberia - another hell! Sadly, I felt pretty much the same about Cilka’s Journey as I did about The Tattooist of Auschwitz. The books both have gotten so many good reviews, but for me the writing style just didn’t portray the horrors of what really went on. Told in third person, the book did not come alive for me and was more like a report of day to day events. I wanted to feel what Cilka felt when food and clothing were so inadequate, when the temperatures were so bitter, when she was forced to perform sexual favors, when she found herself falling in love with little hope of a life with him. I loved how a community was formed inside the barracks and the concern the women had for one another. I wanted to know more about Josie, Hannah, Elena and the others. I loved how Cilka had a strong sense that she would survive and how she cared for her housemates. Her beauty again got her special treatment and I think that was carried a bit too far and became somewhat unbelievable. I realize that she was smart, caring and capable, but to receive training as a nurse and eventually be allowed housing with the nurses while still a prisoner, was a stretch! And the ending was just too full of coincidences. Who doesn’t like a good ending? But this one was too contrived to be believable.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz book #2

This novel proclaims to be based on a true love story. Cilka whose real name is Cecilia Kovacoca was 16 in 1942 when she entered Auschwitz and was forced to become the commandant’s sex slave. On liberation, still only 19, she was charged as a collaborator by the Russians and sent to the Siberian gulags. In her new prison Cilka faced new and familiar challenges and confronted terror and death daily. She also found love.

“Cilka’s Journey” is based on research woven into a fictionalized story. The author states this is not a biography or an authoritative record of historical events but simply traces her heartbreaking journey through hell. The account particularly centers on the treatment of women in Vorkuta Gulag and the maltreatment and violence the men also had to endure. Brutality, rape and undernourishment were the ways of everyday life. Daily, force labor and the extreme cold awaited them to succumb.

Although this is the second novel in the series, “Cilka’s Journey” can easily work as a standalone. Throughout we have flashbacks skillfully weaved in spanning from 1939-1945 giving us enough background about Cilka’s past and also filling the gaps for those who have not read book #1.

Since I read very few books about the Russian Gulags I much appreciated the notes from Heather Morris and additional history on Vorkuta in the afterword by Owen Matthews. These chapters at the end of the book clarify what is factual to what was enhanced to suit the author’s narrative in order to make a most captivating story.

Thousands of prisoners were interned for all kinds of reasons and thousands died in the Gulags during the time Stalin was in power. After his death and a power struggle Khrushchev emerged victorious and denounced Stalin’s purges and ushered a less repressive regime, thousands of prisoners were pardon and sent free, Cilka’s and the man she had fallen in love with were among them.

I did not find this novel to have a depressing story but rather one that showcase resilience and hope. This is a well-written, well researched story hard to put down.

A powerful story of a women who survived a concentration camp and the gulag. Based on a true story, this is both a powerful statement to her bravery and a chilling reminder of what people suffered. The writing, as in the author's Tatooist of Auschwitz, provides just the right tone and truly brings these stories to life.

Chilka's Journey is another in the field that reminds us of the atrocities of concentration camps of WWII. I wasn't sure I wanted to read it until several pages in. Then Chilka became real to me as she became real on the page. The reader follows Chilka through the author's skillful ability to let us feel what is happening to Chilka. There is hatred, debasement, and horrifying moments, but, there is love, and hope and the message that if we can withstand it, we can overcome it.

I received a free ARC of Cilka's Journey from NetGalley in exchange for an impartial review.

Heather Morris' Cilka's Journey is a fictionalized account of a real woman, Cecilia Klein, who had been imprisoned in Auschwitz/Birkenau. There she met Gita and Lale, the major characters in Morris' The Tattooist of Auschwitz. While imprisoned in Auschwitz, Cilka becomes the sex slave of a German officer and is also assigned the horrendous task of supervising a barracks of women whose next, inevitable stop is the gas chamber. Overwhelming guilt and a strong survival sense become Cilka's emotional foundation.

At the conclusion of the war, Cilka is interrogated by the Russians and sent to a gulag for colluding with the enemy. Her sentence of fifteen years means that there is no possibility of returning home to find any family members. While traveling in an overcrowded cattle car, Cilka makes friends with a younger woman, Josie; Cilka becomes Josie's protector and, in a way, her reason to continue living. Because of their physical attractiveness, Cilka and Josie are taken to a special barracks where they are available sexually to the prisoner trustees. Within all the horrors of that, Cilka and Josie are viewed as special so they are protected from multiple rapists by their individual rapists. Additionally, there are the horrors of inadequate clothing, little food, and harsh, freezing working conditions. Luckily, Cilka eventually is assigned to working in the hospital where a kind doctor becomes her friend. Cilka's elevated position allows her to bring extra food to her barracks mates.

The portrayal of a created family in the barracks is very well-done. The humanity the female inmates show to each other under the most degrading, hopeless conditions becomes the core of who Cilka and the others are. Cilka takes enormous risks to help Josie and others; sometimes her self-sacrifice, however, appears rather unlikely and a little too saint-like. It is Cilka's survivor's guilt that causes her to risk her life trying to save others and to pass on opportunities that would make her life easier.

Morris takes a Holocaust horror story and extends it through imprisonment during Stalin's reign of terror. This exposes a new level of what it means to be a victim and what it means to be a survivor.
#NetGalley #Cilka'sJourney

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I was excited to see the book available for review. I read The Tattoist of Auschwitz and loved it. While Cilka’s Journey is a sequel to The Tattoist of Auschwitz , it actually can stand alone all on its own. Overall I enjoyed the story and the book. Cilka was forced as a Jew to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau. And there, she was forced to do things just to survive. Ultimately this puts her in a position of being forced to spend another 10 years in the gulag. While different than the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, it was another set of horrors to survive through.
I would recommend the book. I enjoyed the book and it was difficult to put down but I felt like there were some things that were contradictory or didn’t connect. Hannah would threatened Cilka and hold Cilka’s past as a threat to get drugs but then later it’s like she is a great person. Elena is a bully but then she is not. The book doesn’t really touch on why the change in character. Beyond that I am glad I read it. I learned a lot-and extra information at the end of the book was very informative.

What happens when you write a story of what happens after Auschwitz?
As we all know or are familiar with, WWII was a horrendous time in history that everyone should know and read about. History does NOT need to repeat itself and what better way than to read and familiarize ourselves with history. Unfortunately, not a lot has been written about what happened to some of the prisoners After. And in Cilka's case, her fight against evil wasn't over. She was sent to a Soviet Gulag. A working camp. After staying alive through Auschwitz (which was a war in itself). Still a prisoner, but she had to work long hours under horrific conditions. Her fight was to stay alive. That was how she was going to win.

This time in history has always held a special interest to me. To see the fight in these women and men and love they had for their fellow prisoners absolutely astounds me. While they were taken away from everything they knew, they still fought in their own way. And there was no wrong way in these people's case.

I read this book before The Tattooist of Auschwitz and feel it's 100% a standalone. I'm sure reading The Tattooist will only enhance your experience of this book, but it's not needed. We get enough background of Cilka's past that we get to understand where she came from and what she went through. And it's not pretty. But she is one to survive and love and be selfless in a time when she needed to only really worry about herself. You will feel for her and her bunkmates. Even when you shouldn't. You will understand their actions. The characters come alive right off the page and I could feel the light and the darkness and cold right along with them. And it wasn't pretty. It literally chills you to the bone when you read about their experiences.

This story was mostly true, but there are some part Ms Morris had to take liberties with making this a historical fiction. If you read the afterword and the author's notes, I have a feeling this book will hit you that much harder. Just don't read it before you read the actual book. There will be lots of spoilers.

A wonderfully written story of love, survival, friendship and the ultimate fight. The human spirit is stronger than you can even imagine. And this story shows it. Cilka is my hero and was to many around her as well. I hope she felt and saw that in her life. 4.5 stars

Heather Morris tells a story that is both difficult to read, but also shows the triumph of human strength and generosity. Cilka Klein—a real women who survived Hitler's regime in Aushwitz-Birkenau —only experience the horrors of Stalin's Vorkuta Gulag endures the worst of both regimes.

Morris tells Cilka's story, the good and the bad, as she shows readers the internal struggles that haunt Cilka as she strives to find her place in the harsh societies she must endure. As much as I enjoyed the story, I really appreciated the afterword and author notes Morris shares with her readers on her research for the book, and her thoughtful reflections on how these experiences impacted tens of thousands of people into the late 1950's.

If you loved the Tattooist of Auschwitz you will love Cilka's Journey! Another great novel based on the true story of a young girl. Such a deep and moving story that Heather Morris wrote beautifully. There are lots of books out there that tell the story of what happened inside of the concentration camps, but not so much as the survivor's stories after they are liberated. You don't necessarily have to read the Tattooist of Auschwitz first, but personally I recommend it. Cilka's Journey was a wonderful story that you should definitely add to the top of your reading list!

CILKA'S JOURNEY - Heather Morris

I am definitely developing empathy for the survivors of WWII and the years after when there was still was prisoners, victims from Stalin. I received this on Kindle from Net Galley for the purpose of review.

Heather Morris who is the author writes a insightful novel based on true survivor and the power of love.

Cilka's was first a prisoner in Auschwitz thus she was tattooed with her prisoner number. She works out a deal to not end up in gas chamber by playing the game of cooperation with guards. Problem when she is declared an enemy of the state. That arrest lands her in Siberia. Now Siberia is in the Arctic Circle and stays cold and ALL the time. That alone for this Florida girl, would be awful.
Cilka makes every effort to hide that fact from her bunkmates. She feels they will not even like her and her treatment will be worse if they learn of her years in Auschwitz. But as if that is not bad enough there is one fireplace in Hut 29, no indoor plumbing, a trustee who watches every move in the hut. Wake up 5:30, breakfast consists of warm gruel and bread...Not much to go work in the camp until dinner. The method of minimizing persons in this camp was starvation, cold and very hard labor. They were not as brutal as Auschwitz. Dinner is no better than breakfast.
The hut is cramped with women who have hurts and fears that makes the hut a insecure place to be.
Cilka is a women who always looks out for others. She meets Josie and you soon find Cilka's character and care for others. The hut is all women but there are unwanted visits by the men prisoners as well as guards. Cilka tries to Josie who is only 16. Cilka herself maybe 20.

You will want to read this and especially if you have a high schooler who knows little or nothing about WWII and the atrocities there. Our American history is being minimized and demonized but the United States has always been the protection of friends and even our enemies if it involves inhumane treatment. Our teens, college students and others need the truth.

You will learn much and see amazing protection of Cilka.

Story of 16 year old Jewish girl, surviving Auschwitz-Birkenau. Then going to prison, heartbreaking what all these people were put thru, what this poor girl did to survive. Excellent story of human, love, compassion and survival.

I loved reading this incredibly emotional story of Cilka's life in captivity during the WWII. Cilka was a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz trying to endure the horrors around her in the bravest way that a young girl could. She was then sentenced to a work camp in Siberia, where her bravery and intelligence set her apart from other prisoners, and allowed her certain privileges. Haunted by her past, Cilka chose to always be loyal to her fellow suffers, and elevate their well being over her own.

The story, written in a back and forth in time manner, and is a pleasure to read. This book will appeal to history buffs, but one doesn't have to have a thorough grasp of WWII (like myself!) to enjoy Cilka's Journey.

Heather Morris has crafted this book from facts obtained by extensive research on prison life in Siberia. This research is documented at the end of the book, and brings life to Cilka's story.

I recommend Cilka's Journey!

Cilka's Journey by author Heather Morris is a remarkable story about a young girl taken to a concentration camp in 1942. Cilka faces many challenges over the years confronting death and terror on a daily basis. By the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz comes another page turning 5 Star book!

Oh my. This book was hard to read. It was graphic and honest and dirty. I could not stop reading because I needed to cheer on Celia. I needed to know what happened to her and my heart broke for her in those pages. It was hard to read because it is a true story.

This is not a happy go lucky love story this is a survivors story. A woman who did what she had to do to live. So strong and so brave. It is a reminder to me that my life is good and I am blessed.

Ok the writing. Heather Morris is a genius. She weaves you a story that you can’t put down. Her storytelling is lovely to read, it flows nicely and is easy to understand. This is my second book by this author and I will now read anything she puts out.

Lou Jacobs's review Aug 21, 2019 · edit
it was amazing

A tour de force testament to the unbreakable human spirit. Cecilia "Cilka" Klein has endured unbearable hardships , humiliation , and serial rape to survive the horror of the Auschwitz - Birkenau
Concentration Camp .... all starting at the tender age of sixteen years old. Due to her natural beauty she was selected to service several highly placed Nazi leaders. When the Soviets liberated the camp in 1945 she was rewarded by being sentenced to 15 years in the notorious Siberian Gulag of Vorkuta ...
for the preposterous crime of collaborating with the enemy. Where once again she quickly drew the unwanted attention of both guards and lecherous trustees.
Although this novel is considered to be a sequel to the highly acclaimed: The Tattoist of Auschwitz
(which I did not read) it can certainly be read and appreciated as a standalone ... with the necessary backstory being seamlessly provided.
Thankfully, Cilka catches the attention of a kindly and devoted female physician ... she is taken under the wing of the doctor and nurses and is virtually trained as a nurse. Cilka is able to apply her skills and compassion to helping the ill of the camp. She shines not only in the ward, but also in the OR and even on ambulance runs. Nonetheless she continues to persevere in the face of repeated rapes, starvation, the extremes in weather and the constant everyday brutality of camp life. Hope is quickly realized as an unattainable illusion.
Heather Morris astounds with a moving, dark and treacherous narrative, that continually tugs at the heartstrings of any breathing mortal. This gem is based upon a true story in which we witness the remarkable journey of Cilka ... from child to woman and woman to healer. Morris hits home with the following statement: " Everyone affected by war, captivity, or oppression reacts differently - and away from it, people might try to guess how they would act, or react, in the circumstances . But, they do not really know."
Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Heather Morris for providing an Uncorrected Proof of this masterpiece in exchange for an honest review. Please excuse me ... while I immediately go download a copy of The Tattoosist of Auschwitz.

Heather Morris has done it again! I was so happy to receive an ARC from Netgalley for Cilka's Journey. After devouring The Tattooist of Auschwitz I couldn't wait to read the sequel. Cilka is described by Lale as the strongest person he has ever met, and I agree. After reading this book I feel like I know her. Her story is unbelievably sad yet inspiring as she survives the unimaginable. I highly recommend Cilka's Journey!