I read about the life of Lale Sokolov in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. In that book, Lale spoke of many people he met at Auschwitz - Cilka’s Journey tells the story of Cilka Klein. Cilka was a brave, strong, intelligent girl who was punished for doing what had to be done to survive. Cilka's Journey is a wonderful read and is an example of how we can be strong if we dig deep enough to find that strength. It’s so difficult to understand that less than 100 years ago, the atrocities described in the book were going on. We skim the surface of these stories in our history classes and imagine the people as simply characters in a horrible tale. Books like Cilka’s Journey bring the memories of these people to life. Let’s learn from the experience’s of those who have gone before us. 4⭐️

Another beautiful, emotionally-driven novel from Heather Morris!

Cilka had already endured the horrors of the Holocaust for three years, but her story of survival doesn’t end there. After being liberated by the Russians, she once again has her freedom ripped away when she is charged with sleeping with the enemy, but this time there is an end date in sight. Fifteen years.

Cilka is sent to a prison camp in Siberia, where she faces inhumane treatment that is all too familiar to her. While many of the women prisoners have never experienced a place quite like it, Cilka’s time in the concentration camp had, in a way, primed her to deal with it, in turn allowing her to help the others survive the terrible ordeal. After befriending a female doctor, Cilka finds a purpose while there at the camp as she tends to the sick and dying. But is it enough to push Cilka to survive herself?

When Lale referred to Cilka as the bravest person he’d ever met, that really resonated with me, and now after hearing her story I couldn’t agree more. After everything she had been through at Auschwitz-Birkenau, I would’ve thought her spirit would be broken. But somehow she managed to push through and focus on helping others live, even when at times she didn’t want to live herself. She was given the opportunity to have safer, more comfortable living conditions but turned it down to stay with the women she’d grown close to while at the prison camp. She was even offered help after saving the daughter of a Commandant, but instead asked that her friend and friend’s baby be helped first. That’s just who Cilka was, always putting others before herself, and those around her saw and felt that. I truly believe it was her kind heart and selflessness that saved her.

Highly recommend!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2697435611

Such a lovely book. This was a wonderful follow-up to the Tattooist of Auschwitz, also written by the same author and similarly detailing a true tale of the life of someone during the Holocaust. The trials and tribulations of Cilka were touching as well as riveting for me. I felt a kinship with her as she traveled from Auschwitz ultimately to the Gulag where she was held for an extended period of time. The insight into what occurred during Stalin's regime in Russia was eye-opening, leading me to realize the atrocities that were committed in the name of Russia. I feel that this is a very important lesson for many of us to understand and become more familiar with and I challenge all of you to attempt to read this book with the same mindset you would read a book about the Holocaust - that these are acts that cannot be let to stand and that hopefully we are all on the same page about not allowing something like this to occur again.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What an extraordinary read. Cilka was an amazing woman. So glad I got to read her story, I was eager to know more about her after reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Her strength and bravery goes beyond words. Highly recommended both books.

An incredible book rich in history, blended with characters that will stay with me for some time. Beautifully written and interwoven with character from her previous novel (The Tatooist of Auschwitz) the reader will become emotionally involved and cheer for the main character of this book. A must read showcasing the human spirit and the willingness to open her heart regardless of what has happened previously. I cannot thank you enough for the opportunity to have read this book prior to publication and cannot wait read another title by this gifted author.

I enjoyed reading this fiction book that is based on a real person and real circumstances. I was shocked at the reason why Cilka was sent to the Russian Gulag. She had an amazing spirit! I loved this book!

Absolutely fantastic book. I couldn't put it down. I have not read "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" but I will now. This book was totally absorbing even though conditions under which Cilka lived were horrific. It is a reminder of what can happen, what has happened, and what must not happen again. While fictionalized, the story is based on the experiences of a real person and I thoroughly enjoyed the information at the end which put Cilka's life into perspective in terms of the version I had just read. An amazing accomplishment from an author who deserves to be recognized for hard work and persistence in writing something of significance.

I didn’t read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, so I was not familiar with this author but I must say I am impressed. The hours of research and details she put into her work are very evident and makes the story come alive. Cilka’s Journey was a riveting glimpse into the further horrors that many survivors of the concentrations camps had to endure, which I didn’t know about. I can only imagine if Mrs. Morris interviewed the real Cilka what a further journey could have told. I think anything dealing with this subject matter tends to either hook people with fascination or turn them off, I would say to anyone not wanting to read this book because of the subject, to read it. It is so much more than talking about the atrocities of the Nazi’s and the Russian’s, it is about hope, friendships, and one girl’s strength of mind and character.
For me, while I liked reading the story and thought it really well done, I did not care for the authors writing style. The flashbacks while necessary seemed disjointed and needed a bit more. But then, the author is trying to place you in Cilka’s mind and into her disjointed and scattered thoughts. Spoiler- After reading the authors notes at the end, I was actually a little let down that this was a fictional story interwoven with real facts. Yes, the author went so far as to visit the real Cilka’s hometown, interviewed those who knew her, and found as much as she possibly could about her. But then it left me wondering if the real Cilka could have gotten away with training up as a nurse and being allowed such freedoms as was written when no one (other prisoners) else did.
Overall however, I really enjoyed the book and the glimpse into history and I applaud the author for all her research and for writing about such a tough subject and not letting it be forgotten. Highly recommend.

Cilka's Journey is a remarkable work of historical fiction that follows Cilka Klein and her life after Auschwitz-Birkenau to the Vorkuta Gulag. The story mostly takes place in Vorkuta, with flashback scenes to her life in Auschwitz and what she had to do in order to survive, and her life before, as a young girl.

I loved this book from beginning to end. The story is woven together magnificently and the reader really gets a feel of who Cilka was and the horrendous things she had to deal with. She is a fighter, and it shows throughout the book. I enjoyed The Tattooist of Auschwitz, but I think this book was even better. One of my top reads for 2019 so far.

#Cilka’sJourney #NetGalley
The author of Cilka’s Journey, Heather Morris, takes memories from Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors and creates Cilka. There actually was a Jewish woman named Cecilia Kline.
It’s August 1945 and a young woman is finally freed after three years from the horrors and atrocities of the concentration camp. Part of her time there she was forced into prostitution with German officers. But now the Russians take over, declare her a traitor, and sentence her to fifteen years of hard labor in Siberia.
Through flashbacks, we learn about her early happy years.
This is a hard read as Cilka suffers from inhuman treatment. She and her hut mates have little heat, a bucket to use as a toilet and barely enough food to survive, usually a thin broth and a piece of hard bread. During the day they are sent to the coal mines to fill pails with coal.
Cilka eventually gets a job in the hospital and is able to smuggle food left over by the patients to her group of women. This is a story of determination and bravery to try to live out her sentence. Again, she is forced to have sex, now by the Russians.
Can she endure and someday get to live a normal life?
Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, has written another incredible powerful book.
Read it and “Never Forget”. These horrors in Germany and Russia were real even if the characters were not.

I appreciate receiving an advance copy of Heather Morris's new novel, Cilka's Journey, courtesy of NetGalley, and highly recommend it for readers of WWII Holocaust fiction. This gut wrenching and harrowing story, well researched and based on actual prisoners, was so compelling and we'll written that I couldn't put it down. This was my first introduction to the horrors of post war Russian Siberian labor camps. I remain amazed at the strength and spirit of the survivors, so well portrayed in this book. The relationship to the Tattooist of Auschwitz is explained, but this novel stands alone on it's own merit.

I really liked this story about a woman and the things happening to her during the 1940’s. If you like books with a Nazi theme you will like this one. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this excellent book.

Sometimes you finish a book and you want to ask the author "whatever happened to . . ." Well, here's your chance.
If you read and enjoyed Tattooist of Auschwitz, you will definitely want to follow Cilka's Journey. She was an important secondary character, but now we can read the rest of her story. And it's very much worth the read.

Neither of these books is an easy read. but especially because they're based on true stories, they're important.

I cannot wait to see what Heather brings us next.

I wasn't able to get very far into this book before setting it aside. The story seemed to be moving too quickly for me to get any grasp on the characters, and so it just didn't hold my interest.

Another wonderful brilliant book by Heather Morris. What this young girl had to go through in her young life is unimaginable. These stories that has has brought us absolutely wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time you have so many emotions going through you as you read this book.

Chika's Journey is a beautiful novel written bye Heather Morris. You can tell bye her writing that the author has genuine immense feelings for Chika. This novel made me cry tears of sadness, pain, and happiness it has been a long time since a novel has made me feel such raw emotions for the characters. This is a must read for readers who enjoy reading about the lives that were changed bye Hitler and World War II. I highly recommend Chika's Journey. If I could give 20 stars I would.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz will LOVE Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris. It tells the continuing story of Cilka, whom we first met in the Tattooist of Auschwitz. Based on the life of Cilka Klein, Morris tells the horrors she endured both in Auschwitz and a Siberian prison camp. It shows the power of human endurance, forgiveness, and love. This was a book I could not put down and found myself finishing at 2 AM. Five stars all around!!

Cilka is a young jewish girl who is sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau at the age of 16. This is the story of how she survives that ordeal and more. She is then moved to Gulag after the war having been found guilty of crimes during the war. Again, she finds she is in a position where she is able to survive, all the while living in fear of the past being disclosed.
The writing is simple and powerful. After a long time I found myself reading the book in a single sitting and crying. Not too many books can achieve that. I will recommend this book to anyone who has the heart to read about the World War and its aftermath.
Its a book which delved clearly into the horrors of the time while still carrying a flame of hope. Cilka is a strong girl, capable of taking most things in her stride. Her various relationships with the inmates around her are so well depicted for all their complexity. A story such as this does not come along often.

Beautifully written novel and a wonderful follow up to The Tattoist of Auschwitz. I recommend you read The Tattoist first, but definitely do not have to if you can't grab a copy. This book will make you cry, make you hopeful, and make you believe in the power of never giving up. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't read the first book yet, but this one works as a stand alone book. It is a very moving story based on a real woman who endured so much trauma and pain, but still helped others as much as possible.