The story this book told was an interesting one, based on the life of a real person. A young woman, forced to ‘sleep with the enemy’ at Auschwitz in order to stay alive, is charged as a collaborator at the end of the war. Now sentenced to serve time in a prison camp, Cilka must contend with her present situation as she also deals with ghosts from the past.

I’ve never read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, but I think this book seemed to stand fine on its own. The author fills us in on Cilka's experiences via flashbacks, and the transition between past and present is seamless.

However intriguing the premise, the emotion of the book fell flat for me, and I had difficulty feeling a connection with Cilka or any of the other characters. I was never really pulled into the story, the characters seemed to be lacking depth, and I didn’t shed a tear, which is unusual for me when reading a book from this time period. The friendships between the female characters especially seemed shallow, which I found disappointing, because there was great potential there, particularly between Cilka/Josie & Cilka/Yelena.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ebook in exchange for an honest review. My review will also be shared on Barnes & Nobel, Amazon and Indigo.

I was one of those readers who ‘five-starred’ the Tattooist of Auschwitz and wanted more of Cilka Klein, a real-life Holocaust survivor. Thank you Heather Morris for telling Cilka's post-Auchwitz story. Unfathomable and stunningly cruel that Cilka became a victim yet again upon release from Auchwitz, being wrongly convicted of working with the enemy as a prostitute and spy, sentenced to fifteen years hard labor in a Siberia forced labor camp. I can't stop thinking about her story of survival.

Cilka was one of the characters in The Tattooist of Auschwitz and I was interested to learn more about her. Cilka’s Journey is a powerful story that was inspired by the true to life experiences of Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor Cilka who ends up in a Siberian work camp after being charged as a collaborator for “sleeping with the enemy”. This novel is not an easy read as it confronts the issue of rape during wartime.

While this story does focus on the atrocities that happened to Cilka(and many others), it also shares the heroic efforts she was a part of. Cilka has a compassion for others that guides her through the toughest of times and this part of the story was both heartbreaking and utterly compelling. How Cilka chose to use the gifts she was given to help others was so powerful and a reminder of the beacon of light in humanity even in the most horrific of times. Highly recommend!

I really enjoyed the predecessor to this novel, “The Tatooist of Auschwitz”, so I was excited to read this book. I appreciate the research and work that Morris put into telling Celia’s story in this novel, but I did not like this one quite as much. I recognize that Morris had to incorporate some dramatic fiction into the novel to fill in gaps of Celia’s unknown story, but I felt at times this led to Celia’s story being a bit too unbelievable. Morris still has a way with words where I’d continue to read more of her works, but this one just didn’t have the same pull for me and that’s why I rate it 3 stars ✨. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this advanced copy.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in return for a fair and honest review.

This was a tough one to read. I couldn't help thinking that "it's just not fair" - first she had to survive the Nazi camps, then she winds up in a Russian camp in Siberia! It appears, from the information, that this is all based on fact, although of course the details are fiction, and it really hit me hard. Not that I didn't know about the horrible conditions in both settings, but the author here did an excellent job of making it real.

The characters are well developed, and the plot is compelling. Definitely a good read.

I loved Heather Morris's the Tattooist of Auschwitz, but you don't have to read that one to love this one too. Cilka's journey happens after her already horrific experience within the concentration camps. She is accused of siding with the enemy and being a spy and sent to a work camp in Siberian Gulag. I thought this was such a heart-wrenching book, but one that is needed because there are not many stories about these camps in Gulag. Cilka is a brave and tenacious character who fought hard through everything. I especially loved all the history notes at the end. Like most books from this time it is hard to read at times but so needed for people to understand that these things did happen and that they hopefully won't happen again.

10.4.2019
DNF @20%.

I just cannot. I cannot sit through and force myself to read another book by this author that is just emotional-less and bland. This [as with The Tattooist of Auschwitz] should be evoking huge emotions, ugly-crying and heart-pain and it just...doesn't. There is just no emotion there. And I cannot make myself read a book about one of the most traumatic times in history and feel nothing.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After three years in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, Cilka Klein see the camp liberated by Soviet forces. Cilka, however, is not one of the liberated. Instead, she is found to be an enemy of the state because of actions she took to survive the hell that was Auschwitz. She is sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in Siberia.

Although, the situation goes from one terrible situation to another terrible situation, Cilka shows her strength lies in taking her experiences and using them to protect those she comes to care for. She is continues to carry her compassion despite the challenges that she meets. A fellow prisoner sees her as cold and uncaring after being subjected to a situation that Cilka know will save both of their lives. Cilka is blackmailed by another fellow prisoner to provide services that may cost Cilka her life. Through it all Cilka finds a way to care for many who are prisoners of some sort in the Gulag.

Although this is a continuation of the Tattooist of Auschwitz, you do not need to read it in order to understand Cilka's story.

Cilka’s Journey was another intense fictionalized telling of a Holocaust survivor, Cilka Klein, whose story should be shared and never forgotten.

This book is quite different from the author’s previous work, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which also received great acclaim. In the first book, the story is told based on the multiple interviews the author had with the actual tattooist in Auschwitz. The interviews were intended to develop a screenplay, but instead, were used to create a fabulous novel. Although it was fictionalized, it was loaded with facts from the author’s conversations with the survivor. In this book, the story differs as it is heavy on the fictionalization with less factual information, although anything of truth came from tireless research.

Cilka was a fascinating woman who lived through hell and back. Being pretty was a double-edged sword in this novel. Cilka Stein’s good looks saved her as she entered Auschwitz at the young age of sixteen, but it also put in her in the hands of Commander Schwarzhuber, who steals her innocence in exchange for her life. Her time there was nothing but horrific, yet Morris does a good job of sharing what happened with just enough detail to ‘get it’, rather than spelling it all out.

Cilka manages to survive Auschwitz, only to learn that she is now considered a traitor for “sleeping with the enemy”, so she is sent to the Gulag (labor camp) in Sibera. It’s hard to imagine that she could survive both camps and still have her sanity and heart intact. Sadly, her story is not unfamiliar. The author learned of Cilka after interviewing Lale Sokolov for her first book. If anything, this story should be a reminder to the reader that hate is the spark that ignites evil, and to use the past as a blatant reminder to never let this happen again.

Heartbreaking yet still hopeful is how I’d sum up this epic read. This book follows the real person Cilka as she survives Auschwitz-Birkenau (mostly with flashback accounts) and a Russian Gulag Vorkuta. The author researched both accounts so she had the main information but had to fill in the blanks of what may have happened making this a work of fiction. That said it is heavily researched and she goes over what is true at the end of the book.

Heather Morris weaves the story in such a way that, although, heartbreaking with what goes on you cannot put the book down as you need to know what happens next. A heartbreaking read that everyone should read to offer a glimpse of what has happened and what could easily happen again in the hope that we can stop it.

I received an eARC copy of this book from the publisher. Here is my honest review.

What would you do to survive?

Heather Morris begins to explores this theme in her first book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz but dives in wit with the follow-up Cilka's Journey. There is so much to unwrap in this story: Cilka and the story itself as well as controversy surrounding the book. I'm not going to address the second part - you can search that out on your own if you are interested. I strive to avoid drama; I read a few discussions about it. I have neither the time nor inclination to research it further and form a deeper opinion. My opinion is I'm tired of people taking works of fiction and expecting them to be picture perfect representations of history. It is not hard, nor troubling, for me to take a book, inspired by a "true story" or "real life events" or even based on a historical event, and know that it is fiction yet still glimpse what the reality of that moment in time was like. Fiction is not non-fiction and we should stop treating it as such and expecting it to function as non-fiction.

Okay, now back to the book. We first meet Cilka in The Tattooist of Auschwitz and learn that she suffers repeated rape there. That she takes advantage of her circumstances to to survive and to gain favors for those close to her. I expected this book to shed more light on what Cilka experienced while in the Nazi concentration camp, which is does through flashbacks or memories. Having not read the description, I was shocked to learn that Cilka was judged harshly by those who "freed" her for her actions - many forced on her - and sent her to a Russian gulag, or prison.

This is one of the reasons why I love reading: I never realized that so many people who had already suffered horribly in World War II faced even more discrimination, mistreatment and imprisonment following the defeat of the Nazis. I'm not sure why I'm so shocked that Cilka would have been convicted of working with the enemy. She was sixteen when she went to Auschwitz. What sixteen year old girl would be able to physically refuse the attack of a man? It's so easy to stand on our side of history with safety wrapped around us and say that "I would never do that."

And yet, until we are faced with it, how would we know what we would do? And I wonder if the people who are appalled by Cilka and how she used the advantages that came her way are the same people who ignore that existence of sex slaves in our world today. That question how it is possible for someone to be walking around in the world and yet be caught in that evil trap.

There are no easy answers to these questions. It is important that they are explored. As Morris notes at the end of the book in the author notes: rape has long been a part of war and oppression. We don't like to think about it and we like to talk about it even less. But it is time to take the step that Cilka took - throw off the shame and guilt.

Well. That is certainly not where I thought this review was headed when I sat down to write it.

I found this book riveting. Who knows how Cilka mentally and emotionally survived the concentration camp and the gulag? I think Morris does a good job at exploring what existed and enabled her to do so.

I didn’t know what to expect from this book but loved the Tattooist of Auschwitz so decided to give this a go. Excellent read and excellent descriptions of a horrible moment in history that I never read much into.

This book is a fictional story with real facts about Cilka woven into story. It grabs onto you upstairs beginning of book and doesn’t let you go until the end. Cilka’s concentration camp was liberated but the liberators heard stories about her. She did things she wasn’t proud of but did she really have a choice? What will happen to her now? Will she ever be free?

What another amazing read. I really enjoy this author and her writing. This book will stick with me for quite some time. Cilka is such a strong woman and always putting someone else before herself. I admire all the hardships she went through and how she managed to survive it all. I enjoyed how this book was tied to the Tattooist and made references to the people in that book as well. Definitely a must read. Thank you to #Netgalley for the ERC.

4.5 stars. This book hooked me right from the start. I was shocked and heartbroken. I loved the powerful female lead character. Her bravery is unbelievable. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind on the fact that this is based on a real person / true events. Absolutely heartbreaking. Even though it was a really hard read at times, I really enjoyed this book. I loved it even more than The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

**Trigger warning for sexual abuse**

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris is the heart-wrenching story of Cilka Klein, who in 1942, at the age of sixteen, is sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. Cilka is a beautiful girl and her beauty catches the eye of some of the guards at the camp, who decide to separate her from her fellow prisoners. By playing the role these men want her to play, Cilka manages to survive three years in the camp until it is liberated. Unfortunately, young Cilka’s harrowing journey has just begun. She is arrested by the Russians, charged as a collaborator for sleeping with the enemy (even though she had no choice in the matter) and is sent to prison for 15 years in Siberia.

While Cilka’s Journey itself is a work of historical fiction, it is based on a true story and as such is just all the more heartbreaking to read. Cilka is an incredibly sympathetic character. I liked her immediately because of the way she nurtures some of the younger prisoners. It’s clear that she is a victim of an unfair system and I found myself immediately rooting for her to find a way to survive. In showing what happens to Cilka from the moment she is arrested, Morris does an incredible job of exposing the many wrongs that all prisoners, but especially female prisoners, faced. The abuse is rampant, both physical and sexual, the conditions they are kept in are barbaric, and the treatment is inhumane, making the Russians appear, in many ways, not very different from the Nazis.

I thought the pacing of the novel was excellent too. Because I was so invested in Cilka and worried for her well-being, I was just glued to the book to see how things would turn out for her.

Thankfully though, it’s not all doom and gloom. Morris shows that there are a few bright spots in Cilka’s life in spite of her prison sentence. Her cellmates become somewhat of a “found family” for her, and she even befriends a female doctor at the hospital where she has been assigned to do administrative work because of her language skills. And while working at the hospital, she meets someone who inspires her to think about her future and what her life could possibly be like once she is finally free. It was nice to have moments like these woven into what is otherwise one heartbreak after another.

With every page of Cilka’s Journey, Morris brings to life Cilka’s heart, her bravery, and her strength. Her journey is filled with loss and grief, but also with resiliency and the will to live. And while Cilka’s Journey is a harrowing tale of survival, it is also ultimately a story of hope and love.

I didn’t realize when I requested Cilka’s Journey that it is a sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which I haven’t read yet. Thankfully, however, it works quite well as a standalone and I highly recommend it to fans of historical fiction, especially from the WWII era. It’s a powerful read, an emotional read, and one that will stick with you long after you’ve finished the last page.

Heather Morris has done it again! To piece together such a challenging, deep, and ugly part of the worlds history and somehow make it beautiful is a talent. Following the journey of Cilka Klein, first a prisoner at Auschwitz, only to be released and transferred to A Soviet Gulag in the Arctic Circle of Siberia, we follow her journey, learning so much more about what it takes to survive.

This book is not a light-hearted read, and deals with many things that are hard to imagine and can be difficult to read at times. This compelling and harrowing read should be next on your list of books to read!

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book. Cilka is an amazing character. She is charming and thoughtful and loved hearing her sequel. So grateful for the opportunity to read!

Cilka was a beautiful young girl living a wonderful life with her parents and sister. All this comes crashing down when she ends up in Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in 1942. Now Cilka is forced to do what she can to survive. Through all this traumatic ordeals, she finds herself charged as a collaborator of the enemy and sent to a prison camp in Siberia. How will she face this new horror? Will there ever be a future for her?

This was such a beautifully written and tragic story. Cilka is a true survivor in that time period. She did things against her morals to survive but always tried to be selfless and resourceful to help others. Cilka ends up becoming closes friends with Josie on the train to Siberia. While their friendship had rough patches, that friendship was a prime example of Cilka's love for others.

I had such a book hangover from this story. It was so worth it! This story will invoke a lot of feelings from love to hatred. I would highly recommend this book!!!!! I hope that Heather Morris writes a few more stories for some of the new characters. (Hint hint!😉 I would love to know what happened to Josie.)

Thank St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for my advance copy!!!

I was provided an advanced copy via Netgalley in exchanged for an honest review.

This book is well constructed and well written. I very much enjoyed Cilka's story and she was one of the most intriguing characters from The Tattooist of Auschwitz. She played a major role in Lale and Gita's story and I was excited to get to know more about her. While this is not based on interviews with the main character herself, the story is based on true events, interviews, and research found about Cilka and her experiences in Auschwitz-Birkenau and her time in a Russian prison camp.

I expected this to be about Cilka's time in Auschwitz, however the focus is about her time in Russia after WWII. Morris does take us back several times to give us the details about the horrors Cilka faced at the hands of the Germans and how she survived, however the focus is on her time surviving as a prisoner in the Russian gulag. Cilka was imprisoned for collaboration, but as you learn her story of survival and her compassion for others you may not see her as a collaborator. Her strength and will to live are the main focus of her tale, much like Lale's.

I enjoyed this a bit more than Tattooist. It read more like a novel where that read more like a script for a play or movie. There is more character development and the story while harrowing feels more realistic. This also is not a love story and while it is based on real people and real events it is a work of fiction and reads like a fiction novel. There were some things I didn't love about this, Cilka is portrayed as the most sought after woman in the prison camp by every man she encounters. It is a prison camp where they barely eat, rarely bathe, and every man falls madly in love with her. It is a trope I could have done without. It took away from the moment she found her true love. I felt like that with many of the situations, they lacked that spark of emotion I wanted to feel be it fear, anger, hope, etc. I felt sad and compassion for the characters as I read, but there were so many horrible things that happened to Cilka and the other women she lived with that I should have had more of an emotional response to the events and conditions they faced. This is indeed a harrowing tale, and I just wanted to feel more from it. Overall the storyline is good, it was just missing that emotional connection for me.

If you loved Tattooist, you will likely love this as well. The writing style is very similar and the characters you will encounter are just as brave and compassionate. Both books read as standalones, so you do not need to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz prior to reading Cilka's Journey. You will gain some perspective of who Gita and Lale are if you do, but it isn't necessary.