Survival Under the Harshest Conditions

Only sixteen, Cilka was sent to Auschwitz with her family. Because of her beauty, she was separated from the other prisoners and used for sexual purposes by the commandant. When the camp is liberated, Cilka believes she will be free to go home, but the Russians charge her with collaboration for sleeping with the enemy and send her to the Gulag.

Thrust from one horrible situation to another, Cilka calls on her inner resources to survive. She finds a cause in taking care of other prisoners who are ill. She learns that friendship and even love are still possible.

This is an extremely moving book. Cilka is a very brave character. Caught in two horrific situations at a young age, she manages to survive and even thrive. I thought the author did an excellent job portraying her character and the challenges she faced.

This is not an easy book to read. The scenes in the concentration camp and the Gulag are heart rending. Still, it’s worth persevering because the dreadful backdrop allows Cilka’s character to shine. The book is fiction, but based on a true story. Whether you enjoy WWII books or not, I recommend this novel for the marvelous character development, realistic emotions, and the resilience of people caught in a horror few of us can imagine.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

A story about one woman's journey that is difficult to read due to the subject matter but one that is necessary. Cilka is freed from a concentration camp only to learn her new fate is prison with a charge of sleeping with the enemy. The development of Cilka is admirable. The book is told in the present (her being sent to prison) with flashbacks to her time at the concentration camp. We learn about all the horrible things Cilka endured in order to survive in both places including being raped, power, lack of food and the freezing temperatures of Siberia. She is a strong young woman who is not willing to let go of her hope and the idea of love-- she conquers on. A heartfelt novel that I highly recommend. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ignore the writing. Focus on Cilka's story or you won't 'enjoy' the book.

This can be read as a stand-alone. You don't have to read the tattooist of auschwitz to know her back story as there'll be flashbacks throughout the book.

After the camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated, Cilka was sent yet to another camp, this time to the Arctic Circle, Russia, after being accused of being a collaborator and 'sleeping with the enemy.'

I admire how strong Cilka was. Helping wherever whenever she can at the hospital, the maternity ward, the nursery, the ambulance and the constant paranoia she had of being the centre of attention. Staying invisible was her way of surviving.

However, after being put in a more 'privileged' position working in a hospital, she seems to neglect her own advice, jeopardizing her safety and life, just so she can continue to help and save lives.

I loved how the women in her unit come together and strengthened each other through encouragement and action despite the inital resentment towards each other.

I squirmed when trading about the lengths that people go through to escape toiling the day with hard work like hurting themselves, swallowing things and 'having their stomach cut open is seen as a better option than working.' It's painful and heartbreaking to even think about it.

The author didn't go in detail to describe the sufferings of the prisoners at the end of this world, which I didn't mind because if she didn't, I don't think I'd be able to stomach it.

Overall, a great read if not for the writing.

What I really love about this historical novel is that Cilka is a real person. Heather Morris weaved a story about hope, friendship, love, forgiveness, strength, and survival based on actual people, events, and places. The historical background information in the last few pages of the book gave me a more understanding and a clearer perspective of the harsh conditions Cilka and other prisoners had gone through as well as the life pre and post war. This is indeed a well-researched and well-written historical fiction.

"Cilka's Jouney" by Heather Morris is the second book to the Tattooist of Auschwitz. This book may be read as a stand-alone as Morris also provided extensive flashbacks from Cilka's time at Auschwitz-Birkenau. This is a heart-breaking and horrific story about Cilka who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp where she had been since she was 16yo. Now that the war is over, Cilka's attempts to survive was seen as collaborating with the enemy, and for this she was sentenced to the Vorkuta Gulag, a Siberian prison. The work camp is harsh and brutal, where women in the "hut" experienced unbelievable brutality - bu being raped, overworked, and undernourished. The novel accounts the detail of this horrific Soviet Gulag where prisoners undergo the harshest conditions.

Cilka's big heart by caring for the women in the camp does not come unnoticed and places a target on Cilka, but also gave her an opportunity to work in the prison camp hospital where she is able to train as a nurse. In the hospital, she befriends Yelena an exceptional doctor whom she developed a lasting bond that Cilka needed to psychologically start healing from all the hurt and trauma Cilka has experienced.

As painful as it is to read about the horrors of what Cilka has lived through, has seen, and has experienced, Heather Morris' writing brings you in as she brilliantly captivates you into the story where you are able to see vividly and feel visceral pain and suffering not only by Cilka but from everyone in the camp. Though the story may be dark and at times bleak, Morris' writing is not without hope, and you will find that even among those flawed characters, you will find some understanding as Morris is able to peel the layers and show all sides of our humanity. This was a beautiful and well-written historical fiction that truly illuminates the resiliency of the human spirit, and the strength we have to survive.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and author Heather Morris for the ebook ARC of this amazing must read book.

Cilka’s Journey is a book that has a burning intensity that will hit you hard in the gut. The author did an amazing job of really bringing out the depth of the characters; there were times that I could feel the pain in the soul of some of those women. There’s something to be said about pain and another about the instinctive want to survive that comes out in some.

It was really interesting Cilka’s inner battle of trying to keep her head low and unnoticed versus working in a role that could potentially differentiate her from the pack. She struggles with wanting to fit in and it takes some intuitive people to push her out of the small box of a headspace she had cornered herself in (and rightfully so). It was amazing to see her blossoming as she tried things outside her comfort zone working with the doctors and nurses and ending up flourishing and helping others despite the circumstances.

I also really appreciated that Cilka’s Journey could be read as a standalone novel or as the sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz. I personally think you should read both of them because they are really intense and well-written but options are good too. Overall, I’m awarding Cilka’s Journey four stars for its character depth and exploration of human ethics and compassion in dire circumstances.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Cilka’s Journey. I have voluntarily read this book and the review expresses my own personal opinions.

I LOVED this book! I was lucky enough to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz right before Cilka’s Journey so I knew to pay extra attention when Cilka was mentioned. Her story was so mysterious in The Tattooist of Auschwitz, and I am glad that Heather Morris decided to further tell the story. I enjoyed that the story was told in flashbacks from Auschwitz and then Siberia, rather than chronologically. I felt that it helped to explain Cilka’s personality and decisions while living in Siberia.

Everyone, especially women, should read this book to learn from Cilka’s courage and tenacity. Most of our everyday problems cannot compare with the life she lived. Cilka’s Journey should be on every book club list!

Thank you Heather Morris, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cilka has lived through Auschwitz and WWII against all odds, but when the camps are liberated she is imprisoned and put on trial. She finds herself convicted for aiding the Nazis, despite the fact that she was 16 and forced into a sexual relationship with the commandant, and is sent to a gulag in Siberia for 15 years of hard labor. The book follows Cilka through her years at the labor camp.

I really enjoyed this, but it took a bit for me to get into. For some reason I just wasn’t super drawn in by Cilka’s story at first. Once it did pick up, I couldn’t put it down and I had to find out what happened to Cilka and her friends. Definitely recommend for fans of The Tattoist of Auschwitz!

A young girl goes from the inferno into a frigid hell in historical fiction novel Cilka's Journey. In 1942, Cilka arrives at Auschwitz-Burkenau concentration camp in Poland, and becomes the sexual property of a Nazi officer there. She is only 16, and her childhood swiftly becomes but a memory as life in Auschwitz-Birkenau continues for three years. In 1945 the camp is liberated by the Allies, only Cilka does not have luck on her side, and the Russians swiftly brand her as a collaborator with the Nazis simply by virtue of her sexual slavery to them. Cilka's life dramatically shifts from a dark pit of despair to a cold existence surrounded by death up north in the Russian gulag of Volkuta.

Cilka, in her frozen prison, would be forgiven for giving up on life at this point. Yet, what makes her journey compelling is she chooses instead to build camaraderie, to help others, and to save who and what she can, despite the cost to herself. Haunted by the past and her own feelings of guilt, Cilka does her best to build a sense of family and community in the world's most isolated, coldest jail. Written as a follow-up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, author Heather Morris has also brought us a story that is centered beautifully, poignantly upon its protagonist, and asks the reader to determine in their heart what they can do when the world becomes unjust, imbalanced, unfair, and cruel. Cilka's Journey is one about the universality of cruelty, perhaps, but also a treatise on hope, grit, and inspiration in the face of insufferable circumstances.

Here is a double-header. Someone mentioned to me that they had read and loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. I ordered it, but just never got arond to reading it. I then found out that Part 2 was available, so I read them back to back. It was not until I read the epilogue of Part 1 that I learned it was based on a true story. You certainly do look at a story a bit differently after that. While reading, I was not impressed with the writing in the least. I did struggle with the rating after learning that it was based on reality, however, I decided to separate the story from the telling of the story. I’m okay with not giving it the 5 stars everyone else has. If I were rating the stories on their own, they would easily be a 10. Here are my thoughts on both books:

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (3 Stars)

In the beginning, I felt so bad giving this only 3 stars, but it fell flat. The story itself is unbelievable and amazing, but the author didn't convey that to the reader. You see, it is based on reality. I am so glad that Lale and Gita found each other afterwards and lived a wonderful life together. It's a beautiful and haunting story that should be out there for everyone to read, yet somehow I just didn't feel it was written with feeling. I never really knew what Lale was like, and Gita was just a minor character. I think there are other books out there that are better at portraying some of the raw emotions these people must have felt. This is a story that should be read, but make it one of the many books you read. It felt very flat and sanitized.

Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #2) by Heather Morris (3 Stars)

Part 2 was also a disappointment. The story follows Cilka from the first book. Her story is amazing and Cilka is an incredible person, but again the telling of the story fell flat. The language is stilted, there is no depth to any of the characters and some parts are repetitive. The biggest letdown was that I never discovered what Cilka was thinking or feeling. Even in her despair, I never felt her pain. Cilka’s story is remarkable and her life unimaginable, but the author was just always right on the edge of letting you in.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of Cilka’s Journey in return for an honest review.

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Let me first say that I picked this up not having read Heather Morris' previous book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, although I will probably go back and read it soon. This book is based on the life of Cecilia Klein who was held at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp during World War II. When at long last the Allies freed the camp, Cilka was arrestedby the Soviets for collaboration with the Nazis and sent to a gulag (labor camp) in Siberia. Her strength and courage throughout this ordeal are amazing.

This is mostly a story of Cilka's life in the gulag; however, her memory shows us her life growing up and then her life in Auschwitz and the horrible choices she had to make to survive. It made me wonder what would happen if faced with a similar situation - but I couldn't even picture having these choices placed before me. This was a horrible war and I hope no one ever fogets so that this will never happen again. Very well written and the characters came alive through Morris' words.

Thanks to Heather Morris and St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is going to be another winner for Morris and I actually liked it better than The Tattooist of Auschwitz. The story is moving, personal and so very tragic. I think it's important to keep writing and reading about this shameful time in history and Cilka's Journey moved me and really made me think and reflect as well.

Cilka's Journey is the story of a young woman named Cecilia Klein, who goes by Cilka. Cilka has been held at Auschwitz-Birkenau for three long years, doing whatever she could to stay out of the death chambers. As Soviet forces arrive to liberate the camp, it appears that Cilka has been saved from the horrors of the camp, but it is not to be. Cilka is charged as a collaborator for the things she did to survive and shipped off to a Siberian gulag to serve a 15 year sentence for hard labor. So begins Cilka's Journey.

I was absolutely enthralled with this book and couldn't put it down. I raced through the novel, wanting to find out more about Cilka's fate. It is not a fun or light read, but it is a very well-written, important story and necessary reminder of the horrors inflicted upon victims of the Holocaust and victims of the gulag system implemented by the Soviet Union.

The book is the sequel to the Tattooist of Auschwitz, however, it can easily be read as a standalone novel. I have not yet read the Tattooist of Auschwitz but definitely will be doing so as I found Cilka's Journey to be so well done.

This novel was a stunning sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, but if you haven't read The Tattooist, this also reads so amazingly by itself!

Cilka Klein was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau at the age of sixteen, where her beautiful hair gained the attention of the Commandant. In the following three years, Cilka submitted to rape, among others things, all in order to survive. Although Cilka managed to survive the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau for three years, her struggles do not end when the camp is liberated. Following liberation, Cilka is charged by the Russians with collaboration with the enemy, and is sent to a prison camp in Siberia to serve a sentence of fifteen years. In the Siberian camp Cilka faces struggles both old and new to her, and once more finds herself in a better but difficult position when she gains the notice of a female doctor and is placed in a job in the hospital. This novel tells the story of Cilka's outward struggles, along with her inside difficulties coming to terms with her past decisions, her young age when she was thrown into the horrific mess they call Auschwitz-Birkenau, and her ability to love anyone after everything she has done and been through.

I personally thought Cilka's Journey was SO well-researched and put together, and wove together fact and fiction in a beautiful and sometimes hard-to-read story (hard to read because of Cilka's heartbreaking situation.) I loved the fact that the author had a note in the back separating the facts from fiction, and the way the story flips between Cilka's present and her flashbacks to the past. I highly recommend this story novel!

~ ARC provided by NetGalley ~

It is always so hard to read about things like this, necessary as well. As it is fiction based on reality I thought it was a good book. It makes you question and think a but how life must have been during such a time. I've seen mixed reviews about the writing but for me it was fine and she does a good job of drawing you in. ♡

"You are free."

Words that only can be dreamed about, longed for, and out of reach.

Heather Morris presents quite the story here that leaves an ache in the heart of the reader because it is based on a real individual and real situations that took place at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in 1942. To turn away is to sit on the edge of denial. To turn away never honors the memory of those who never returned.

Cilka Klein is a mere sixteen years old. She and her family have been rounded up and taken to Auschwitz and their fate will be decided by their Nazi captors. Separated without the touch of family, Cilka fights for survival in whatever shape or form it may arrive in. Under brutal circumstances, she tries to keep a low profile. But it's not long before she is noticed by a Nazi officer who takes her as his personal property. Cilka is subjected to cruelty that every woman fears.

As the years pass, Cilka will become the object of an insidious fate. When the Russians arrive in Auschwitz, Cilka is accused of cohorting with the enemy Germans for her relationship with the Nazi officer. She is sentenced to 15 years of labor in the frigid, barbed-wired Siberian Gulag. Cilka is now relegated to a deeper Hell.

Morris creates an eye-opening panoramic view of life in Siberia. Because she is good with languages, Cilka will have the benefit of working in the miners' hospital facility. It's here that Morris opens the spectrum of her story even wider. Cilka learns that bodies can be broken, but the human spirit still lives for another breath.

The Author's Notes at the end give us some backstory on the real Cilka Klein. Heather Morris has done a great job with her research and interviews. The unfolding of this story will stay with you......as it should. Authors like Heather Morris serve the world with a reminder lest we forget the horrible atroscities visited upon humanity.....still close to the fingertips of the world today.

I received a copy of Cilka's Journey through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Heather Morris for the opportunity.

Cilka was introduced in the Tatooist of Auschwitz as a minor character. Yet her story offered a unique and interesting look at life in the concentration camps. Sadly, being the victim there landed her in a Russian prison afterwards for supposedly collaborating with the Nazis. But through her story, the reader is exposed to life inside these cold cold prisons where the Soviets try to punish people but at the same time present the front of being a new supportive government for the same people. Propaganda is light in the book, but it is there are visible for the hypocrisy that it was. Forefront is how Cilka is able to use her experiences in Auschwitz to help save herself and those around her from the worst of conditions. This story is the best of two worlds: history and fiction.

Earlier this year, I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz. You can go check out my review here, but long story short: I loved it. The story of how Gita and Lale managed to survive through complete hell, often driven only by their love for each other, was such an outstanding portrait of the strength of the human spirit. However, at the end of the story, we find out that one of Gita’s friends, Cilka, who also saved Lale’s life, was convicted of collaborating/sleeping with the enemy by the Russian army and was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in a Siberian gulag. Never mind that Cilka was only 16 when she entered Auschwitz and that she was faced with a terrifying choice: rape and assault by Auschwitz’s top guard…or death. She chose to do what she must to survive, and for that she was sentenced to further terror and hell.

Anyway, when I read that note at the end of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I was enraged. How the HELL could that happen, after all she’d been through – three years in Auschwitz, barely surviving?!?! I wanted to go right back in time and slap some people silly, to say the least.

And then I learned that Heather Morris also knew she couldn’t leave Cilka with that note and nothing else. So she began to write her story: her story after Auschwitz. Cilka isn’t alive any more, so Morris couldn’t talk to her the way she could with Lale for The Tattooist, but she used much of Lale’s stories, as well as the stories of other prisoners in the gulag to piece together Cilka’s Journey. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to write a story like this, attempting to stay true to the facts as much as possible, but knowing you will have to fill in the gaps with your own imagination and historical records. The sense of duty Morris must have felt…I can’t even imagine. But she did an amazing job. She honors Cilka and her spirit – the spirit of a woman described by Lale as:

“She was the bravest person I ever met. Not the bravest girl, the bravest person. She saved my life. She was a beautiful, tiny little thing, and she saved my life.”

As horrific and sad and emotional and frustrating and infuriating as Cilka’s Journey is – how can the story of a young woman held prisoner in a gulag be anything else? – I did not want this book to end. Cilka was a force to be reckoned with. Her will to survive – to live – is unlike anything I have ever read. She discusses how different people respond differently to fear and how we cannot judge others based on that response…but damn, her response was to fight – not just for herself, but for others. You would think someone forced to endure as much as she did would have become broken, angry, selfish, and unforgiving. I think I would have. But she almost became more selfless. More forgiving. More understanding. She often puts others above her self, saving the lives of others first, damn the consequences.

I could go on and on and on. Seriously, I am so very grateful to have been able to read an advanced copy of Cilka’s Journey – St. Martin’s Press and the author made my day when this book showed up in the mail. As soon as I knew it was going to become a book, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, and it is everything I hoped for and more. It is because of people like Cilka that the evil in the world has not and will never win.

RATING BREAKDOWN (IN BRIEF, BECAUSE WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?)

Writing – 2/2: Morris’s story telling grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let you go. This is not a short story, but I flew through it because I couldn’t stop reading. I had to know what was going to happen next, and I was right there with Cilka the whole way. Morris’s writing paints such a vivid picture.

Plot – 2/2: I mean. Come on. Nothing tops this plot.

Characters – 2/2: Cilka is amazing. Have I said that enough yet for you to believe me? But the other characters in this story are also incredibly well-written – both the goodies and the badies.

Historical Accuracy – 2/2: I’m all about the author notes at the end of historical fiction books, and Morris provides a great deal of detail about her process in staying as true to the time period as possible. She also explains why she made any changes, which I really appreciate. This had me researching the gulag system in greater depth and can I just say…f*ck you Lenin and Stalin. F*ck. You.

Feel – 2/2: Again. Come on. Do I need to explain more about all the feels this book gives??

The strongest, brightest 5/5 stars I have ever given. Read The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Then read Cilka’s Journey. It’s out October 1st – so run to your nearest bookstore and grab it tomorrow!

Happy reading!

After time in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, where she was raped and sexually abused by the SS, Cilka is finally free—but is charged as a collaborator for sleeping with the enemy and sent to Siberia. However, while in the camp, did she ever really have a choice about what the SS did to her? In Siberia, Cilka faces the same problem with unwanted attention by the guards. This time, however, a female doctor comes to her rescue, taking her under her wing, working with the doctor to care for ill in the camp, ever mindful of the brutal camp conditions. Being a survivor Cilka manages to cope, daily facing harsh conditions of care and even death, living with the terror all camp residents have. Cilka cares for a young man, Ivan, and after all that has happened, finds there is still room for love within herself.

The horror of Cilka’s life, three years in the concentration camp only to be convicted as a collaborator and sentenced to fifteen more years at a Gulag in Siberia, is unimaginable. I was thoroughly amazed at the resilience of Cilka throughout the ordeal. She definitely is one strong woman/person! The author did a superb job of depicting the hell that was the life of the residents of both the camp and the gulag. The characters came across as realistic, resourceful and as survivors. I seldom read much about this period in history, mostly because it is disturbing, and I read for relaxation. However, this book was so well done that I am grateful I received a copy from NetGalley to read and review.

Cilka's Journey can be read as a sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz or as a stand-alone. I haven't read The Tattooist yet, although it's been on my TBR list for quite some time. So, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, I read this book as a stand-alone. There are some mentions of characters from The Tattooist, and my understanding is that the author received a lot of her information on Cilka from Lale and Gita in that book. However, I didn't feel lost or like I was missing information in any way from not having read that book.

While The Tattooist is a true story of Lale, Cilka's Journey is considered more a fictionalized history based on a real person. Cilka really did exist but had passed away by the time Heather Morris began on her story. So some of the people in this book are real life while others are compilations or even entirely fictional. The same is true for the events. From what I've read, Morris did a lot of research, though. So while the story is fictionalized, there is a lot of fact and history to learn from.

Okay, now that the background is out of the way, I am SO GLAD this book was written. Most people are familiar with the German concentration and death camps from Holocaust and WWII history. However, the role the Soviets and Russia played afterwards with their own camps (and even repurposing some of the German camps) is not as well known. So this book is important for that alone.

This books consists of Cilka's life in a Siberian prison camp, where she was sentenced to labor after the Russians "liberated" her from Auschwitz-Birkenau intermingled with flash backs to her time in the concentration camp for her Jewish heritage. What it takes for her to just survive in both environments that were created to destroy her. The camaraderie to be found with fellow prisoners and the humanity of those trying to do what they can to help others around them. Hope found in the darkest places.

It took me a bit to get into Cilka's story, but I think that had more to do with things going on in life than a flaw in the book itself. Once I was halfway in, though, I flew through the rest. The topics addressed are heavy, harsh, awful...and real. Triggers abound, but I don't believe that should dissuade someone from reading this. Did I mention it's important that we as humanity know that these things occurred and to guard against them moving forward?

So, my review is simply this: Read it. Reflect on the truths this story contains.

Read more review at https://mommyreadsbooks.blogspot.com/