From a concentration camp to a prison camp...from one horror to the next.

Even though she had no choice but to do what she was told, Cilka was charged by the Russian government with collaborating with the Nazis and given a sentence of 15 years of hard labor in a prison in Vorkuta Gulag in Siberia.

The conditions and treatment in the prison were no better than in the concentration camp, but Cilka knew how to stay alive since she had learned what you needed to do and that was to just do what you are told.

We follow Cilka as she remembers her lovely childhood and the horrors in the concentration camp as well as learn of her current, unbearable situation in the prison. We also get to re-visit Lale and Gita as Cilka’s memories revert to the time in the concentration camp.

The reader sees the atrocities women were subjected to in the concentration camp and the prison.

There are some good people that Cilka meets in the prison hospital where she works which is a blessing to be out of the brutal temperatures loading coal into buckets day in and day out.

You will cringe and be horrified at what goes on as Ms. Morris again minces no words and keeps your interest with her marvelous writing style and research.

Historical fiction fans and those who have read THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ will not want to miss this book. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is more of a spin off of the first book than a second book. It takes a little developed character from the first book at it follows her after she leaves the camp. I didn’t realize that what happened to her could happen. This book has taught me how people in the camps were viewed by all different types of people. I was able to get inside the head of someone who suffered and how she survived and how other people may look down or be disgusted by what she did to survive. I would this story to keep going so I could either learn more about other characters or continue the stories of these ones I feel I know so well.

Wow, this was an incredible story of bravery, friendship and strength. I truly enjoyed Cilka's Journey and flew through the book. I would highly recommend this to any of my friends and family.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Wow. This book was so powerful. It was beautiful and so very sad. I wasn't even aware of these prisons after World War II and had no idea that people who survived the Holocaust continued to be tortured this way. It broke my heart, yet the author managed to put some hope into Cilka's story. What a brave, big-hearted, selfless woman. I highly recommend this novel to everyone!

I never wanted this book to end, the entire time I was reading it. It was very hard to put down. The story was so compelling and awe-inspiring.

This is bound to be another best-seller from Heather Morris, after her highly successful The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Profound, heart breaking, gut wrenching. Cilka broke my heart but also made me proud of her incredible strength.

16 year old Cilka Klein was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, close to death for 3 years. Commander Schwarzhuber decides to take her as his mistress, and this is a way for her to survive. Call it what you will, rape is rape. After she is released by the Russians, she is charged with colluding with the enemy.. Despite everything she has already been through, she is sent to the Gulag for 15 years! But she finds love and friendship there in the hospital ward.

Fantastic historical fiction story, Heather Morris explains In a note at the end, what is fact and what is fiction. Powerful read! I had a friend visit Germany with her family recently. They had stopped at the Auschwitz camp and were moved beyond words. I can't imagine the strength, courage and bravery of all those in the concentration camps. God forgive us for letting it happen.

This was a heart wrenching and highly emotional read. At the age of 16 Cilka is taken to Auschwitz and because of her beauty she survived for 3 years as "mistress" to a German officer. Actually, rape is more like it, but her very survival depended on being the commandant's "sex slave." At age 19, when the camp is liberated, Cilka is interrogated by the Russians and sent to a gulag for colluding with the enemy. Her sentence fifteen years where once again she will be available sexually to the prisoner trustees. I cannot imagine, in my wildest nightmares, what strength it took to survive, As difficult as it was to read this novel, it is important to never forget, to never minimize the strength it took for these holocaust victims to survive their most horrendous challenges.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is one of my favorite books EVER so I was excited to see the follow up novel Cilka’s Journey. Cilka’s journey through hell starts when she is taken from her home at 16 and sent to a concentration camp. She is later turned into a sex slave for the Nazi officers. My heart broke for this young, beautiful girl and all the horrible things that were done to her. I wept as I read. Then my heart broke even more when Cilka saw a glimmer of hope when the war was over and that glimmer was blown out and she is sent to another hell whole. As much as Cilka endured at the hands of others this book echoed her strength and how she became a survivor.

Cilka’s Journey is an amazing book that should be read by all! This story will stick with me for the rest of my life. Heather Morris has touched my heart again!

Loved this book! Heartbreaking and inspiring. A test of human endurance and will to live. Don't miss this one!

An excellent follow up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz! Cilka Klein, the friend of Lale and Gita from the Tattooist of Auschwitz, is sent to Auschwitz-Berkinau at the age of sixteen. There, her beauty catches the attention of the Commandant. She is forced to make choices for survival. When the war is over and the camp liberated in 1945, she is then charged as a collaborator for sleeping with the enemy and sent to Siberia to serve a 15 year sentence at the prison camp. Faced with harsh weather conditions, she must once again learn to survive new and horribly familiar challenges. Despite everything that has happened to her, Cilka finds that there is room in her heart for love.

Another great novel from Heather Morris based on a true story of resilience, courage and love. Cilka is a great example of someone who is able to find compassion and strength even in dark times. The story contains a lot of flashbacks to her days in Auschwitz so it can actually be read as a standalone novel. This is an easy read - the writing is simple and easy to follow so if you are looking for a literary masterpiece then perhaps this is not for you. However, I thought Heather Morris did a great job bringing to light the struggles women prisoners had to face at such a horrific time in history. Please read her note at the end of the book!

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was received as an ARC from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Although this book is a work of fiction, it is based on a real person, a person who lived a life one can barely imagine. The author gave a voice to Cilka and others like her, and told a story that can be very sad and unimaginable but needs not to be forgotten. The authors afterward is what, in my opinion, completes the novel. After enduring so much heartache and pain, both physical and mental, it is amazing that this girl/woman was able to survive.

Heather Morris, thank you for keeping Cilka, Lale and Gita’s memories alive. This is a story I won’t soon forget.

If you loved The Tattooist you will also love Cilka's Journey. It is unbelievable what this woman goes through. Her life is so unbelievably sad and in the end happy. She is courageous, resilient and a born leader. This book is heartwrenching. But it also will give you hope. A must read.

Cilka's story is so unbelievable and I can't believe what a strong woman she was! The story is that much more special knowing how much research Heather Morris did to accurately portray her life and her challenges and successes. Fans of "The Tattooist of Auchwitz" will fall in love with Cilka and find themselves easily rooting for her. Cilka's strength and resiliency is next level and cannot be duplicated. This book details all of the times she was knocked down, yet continued to fight and prevail. She helped so many people in the book and always had others' interests in the forefront of her mind. and Morris truly brought her story to life. I enjoyed following along with her fascination with Aleksander, her friendships with Josie, Yelena and her fellow hut mates and workers, rooting for them all along the way. This book, though a heavy subject, was easy to read for many reasons. Morris is a wonderful storyteller, descriptive and detailed, and you want to keep reading to find out what happens to Cilka and co. Well done, Heather Morris! Thank goodness people like Cilka existed.

Excellent follow-up novel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Cilka is a friend of Gita and Lale's from the first book, they meet in the concentration camp. Cilka is just 16 when taken from her home to this terrible death camp and eventually forced to become a sex slave to Nazi officers because she is young and beautiful. She endures unbelievable pain and suffering. When the war is finally over, Cilka is then convicted as a war criminal because of the position she was given in return for sex, and is sent to a Russian work camp in the North. Another terrible place with unlivable conditions where Cilka is forced to adapt and survive again. This is an epic story of the life of one young prisoner in WWII and how she survived. An amazing story of survival under the most brutal circumstances. Do not miss this book! Thanks to NG for the ARC!!!!

Like many people I fell in love with The Tattooist of Auschwitz last year and was very excited to get Cilka's journey to review. I loved this book and am very glad that I was able to read it.

Cilka was mentioned briefly in the previous novel and is once again based on the life of a real person. When Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II Cilka was imprisoned for collaborating with the Nazi's because was treated as separate and special. She is then sent to the Gulag with a 15 year sentence. Here she has to learn to survive again and she begins to find her place and show how she can have power even when powerless.

This book is a hard book to read and is not one for the faint of heart, but I felt a connection to Cilka immediately. Her pain was evident, but the way her story was written was so intriguing and made me want to continue reading.

Cilka made a lot of hard decisions in her life, some that many around her didn't understand, but it just proved her strength even more.

This is a very good book and one that I won't be able to shake for a while.

We all wondered what happened to some of the characters in The Tattooist of Auschwitz, and once again we are given a heart wrenching look into their lives.
Cilka survived the concentration camps any way she could, and those decisions saw her taken away to another prison after liberation. The heartaches and horrors she again witnesses make her story of survival that more incredible..

What The Nightingale by Kristan Hannah did in bringing attention to the women of the French Resistance, Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris brings insight into the little known Russian Gulags. Ms Morris has written a mesmerizing account of a courageous woman in a horrific part of human history. Conditions at the Gulag were brutal. The compassion and empathy Cilka displays towards her fellow prisoners, patients and others tells much of her fortitude and strength. She was a remarkable woman. Prisoners could be required to work up to 14 hours a day, often in extreme weather at times facing sub-zero temperatures. Many died of starvation, disease or exhaustion. Violence, brutality and rape were part of the women prisoners existence. The additional history and notes at the end of novel were appreciated and gave more insight into a little known part of history.

Many thanks to Jordan Hanley at St Martins for recommending the book and to St Martins and Ms Morris for the opportunity for preview the book.

Wow! I loved this book. This book is about Cilka Klein's time in a Russian prison after spending years in Auschwitz. This book is about resilience, hope, kindness, and determination at one of the worst times in history. Cilka lived through unthinkable horrors in the Russian Gulags yet did selfless things to help her fellow prisoners and friends. She was an amazing woman that did what it took to survive. In the end you have to cheer and hope she truly had a peaceful life, full of love.

I would like to thank #NetGalley for a review copy of Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris. I did read the The Tattooist of Auschwitz before diving into this book. It was somewhat helpful to read first but not necessary.

5 ★ What effect would it have on you, if you believed you were rescued from certain death but instead you’re judged and sentenced harshly on what you were forced to do by your captors?

Heather Morris has written yet another moving and powerful novel. We first met Cilka Klein in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Cilka’s Journey follows her life after the war and is an emotional story of survival, hope and resilience.

After surviving Auschwitz and being liberated by the Russians in 1945, Cilka is then charged as a collaborator for sleeping with the enemy. She was mistress to a Nazi officer being repeatedly raped, and although it was a choice between life or death, she’s sentenced to fifteen years hard labor at a Gulag camp in Siberia. Imagine how devastating that would be. To survive Auschwitz only to be sent as a prisoner to a Siberian Gulag.
With Stalin not any different than Hitler, Cilka went through the worst possible conditions imaginable, challenges all too familiar.
Cilka is befriended by Yelena, a doctor who actually volunteered to be there to help those that need it in the harsh surroundings. She see’s that Cilka is smart and has potential offering her a job in the hospital, offers training in nursing, and asking Cilka to assist her in surgeries. Cilka uses what she learns to help other prisoners.
Cilka made a positive impact on those around her through her noble acts of selflessness, and her determination, drive and tenacity to never give up. Cilka felt compassion for those around her putting them before herself, even over her own freedom when offered it.

Both novels, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey are based on real life people. I’m grateful that Heather Morris has chosen to write their stories keeping the reminder there for all to remember. We should not forget to make sure it never happens again.

*Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. Pub date 10/1/19*

"Cilka is just sixteen years old when she is taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in 1942, where the commandant immediately notices how beautiful she is. Forcibly separated from the other women prisoners, Cilka learns quickly that power, even unwillingly taken, equals survival.

When the war is over and the camp is liberated, freedom is not granted to Cilka: She is charged as a collaborator for sleeping with the enemy and sent to a Siberian prison camp. But did she really have a choice? And where do the lines of morality lie for Cilka, who was send to Auschwitz when she was still a child?

In Siberia, Cilka faces challenges both new and horribly familiar, including the unwanted attention of the guards. But when she meets a kind female doctor, Cilka is taken under her wing and begins to tend to the ill in the camp, struggling to care for them under brutal conditions.

Confronting death and terror daily, Cilka discovers a strength she never knew she had. And when she begins to tentatively form bonds and relationships in this harsh, new reality, Cilka finds that despite everything that has happened to her, there is room in her heart for love.

From child to woman, from woman to healer, Cilka's journey illuminates the resilience of the human spirit—and the will we have to survive."

I really enjoyed this one. It was a unique point of view on a woman who was lucky enough to survive the concentration camps only to be punished for doing so. She uses the survival skills the Nazi's taught her to survive the Siberian Prison. All the while trying to protect those around her. We see her heartbreak and love as she struggles.

I've always loved authors who take history and make it into a story you can't put down. While we are hoping for Cilka to survive, we also feel the doubt and jealousy of those who questioned how she did it. Despite all the previous stories of World War II, this one truly gave us a new one. Highly recommend. #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #bookreview #bookreviewer #cilka #cilkasjourney