This was an extremely powerful historical fiction piece by an author I have grown to love. We first met Cilka in The Tattooist of Auschwitz and her storyline captured, terrified and mesmerized me. It was such an immersive and eye opening experience to deep dive into her story through the author’s incredibly gifted way of writing such descriptive language that transports you right there alongside the characters. I love books that make me feel so strongly and root for the protagonist and this one nailed it. 4.5 stars!

I cried all the way through The Tattooist of Auschwitz, so it's no surprise that I cried all through Cilka's Journey. It is hard to even put a review in to words as this story is beautiful and heart breaking all at the same time. The pain and suffering is felt at the same time you feel the love and bravery of Cilka and all of the people she comes in contact with. The flashback to her time in the camps left me speechless. Myheart broke when she thought about her family. But oh, what an ending. I was expecting the worst because it's a horrible piece of history, but Heather Morris managed to tell this story beautifully. You think to yourself this happened so long ago, but then you read the epilogue and learned that Cilka passed away in 2004. I just kept reading and reading until there were no more pages to turn. I didn't want to let Cilka go.

Cilka's story is emotional and heartbreaking. Her horrific journey didn't end when she left Auschwitz. She most definitely is one of the strongest women I have ever read about. I know I will be thinking about this story for a long time after finishing this book.

This book is for anyone who loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz. This book takes us on a journey with Cilka who is featured in the first book. We get to know her on a deeper level and really connect with her story.
Being a fan of the first book I knew I had to read this one as well, I found it completely devastating and heartbreaking. Based on true events I found myself having to pause and put it down and be so grateful for the life I have but also have respect for those who suffered during this time. I was visualizing all the awful things the poor people in Cilka’s life (including herself) witnessed and experienced. This included physical abuse, unbearable working and living conditions and being robbed of their humanity.
I appreciated all the research that went into this book and found it to be very well written. Some parts were quite graphic and unsettling, so be prepared for that. Overall amazing book about history.

I loved The Tattooist so I was anxious to read this.
It did not disappoint. The backstory about Cilka was as engaging as that of The Tattooist. Her reasons for cooperating wither the Nazis were compelling. She was brave and valiant.
I did not see the ending coming but it was compelling.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title

Unfortunately this one didn’t work for me.

This was another beautiful, stirring story from Heather Morris. It’s so hard to believe that this is based on a true story, true experiences. The characters are fantastic and there’s enough skipping through time to keep the plot moving without leaving gaps in the story telling.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Another Heather Morris masterpiece. I personally have a soft spot for historical fiction set in this era. Morris continues the story from her previous novel & gives us insight in to one of her most intriguing secondary characters. Great novel & I cannot wait for the next from her.

I absolutely loved this read! The Tattooist of Auschwitz is one of my favorites, so of course I had to devour Cilka's Journey as well. The Tattooist is a bit more hopeful, the aspects of romance being a flower growing from ash, whereas Cilka's Journey lacks the flower, it truly is a story of pain and sorrow, where there is no optimism. However, there is just as much reality in that, if not more, than that of Tattooist. I adored this book, I loved getting to know Cilka and ultimately seeing her make it through the darkest of histories.

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

I did not mean take so long to finally read this Advanced Read Copy but once I received it, I felt very uncomfortable tackling a book about the Holocaust. Finally I read a couple of books that touched on the Holocaust and felt ready to read this book. But first, I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, as my introduction to this book. After The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I wanted to know what happened to Cilka, after the liberation of the concentration camp, in 1945.  I read this book as historical fiction, with the emphasis on fiction, because so little was really known about Cilka and there are so many articles that discuss conflicting information about Cilka, her actions and even her existence. 

Having said all of that, I enjoyed this book despite it's gruesome subject matter. Cilka, of this story and the first one, survived the concentration camp by not fighting back with her captors. She was raped regularly by officers high in the chain of command and because they had "claimed" her, she was in charge of Block 25, the barracks where the women who were going into the gas chambers slept one more night, before being loaded into the trucks to be driven to their deaths. When the camps were liberated, Cilka was sentenced to 15 years in a Siberian gulag, for sleeping with the enemy but her role as the head of Block 25 was the role that haunted her even more than the fact she didn't fight back while being raped. 

Once at the gulag, Cilka tries to remain unseen, unnoticed but she quickly is chosen by a powerful prisoner to be his property, so she is once again raped regularly but safe from the gang rapes that happened to other women. Cilka's knowledge of many languages and her ability to learn quickly also kept her from hard labor because she was chosen to work with the doctors and nurses in the prisoner medical facility. Always, Cilka remembered her life and role at Auschwitz and feared that her fellow prisoners would find out about her former life. But the memory of her former life also drove her to do all she could to help her fellow inmates. 

The real live Soviet gulags were as bad as the Nazi concentration camps, even if they didn't have the gas chambers, ovens, and medical experiments. The prisoners were slaves, to be starved and worked to death and replaced by more slaves, there were always more bodies to replace those that fell. I'd been unaware of the details of places like this and now I know about one more historical horror. Cilka's Journey is a moving story and I'm glad I read it. 

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

Struggling to think of words to sum up how I feel about this book (I felt a similar way about the Tattooist of Auschwitz) because the content it deals with is so utterly inconceivable and heartbreaking.

However, in the biographical information about Heather Morris at the back of the novel it says she is ‘passionate about stories of survival, resilience and hope.’ Cilka’s Journey is exactly that. A story that, whilst it makes you to face up to the worst facets of human nature, also forces you to be totally humbled by the stories of those who, despite what many of us would find intolerable suffering, somehow found the will to endure.

A powerful book. If you enjoy historical fiction, this one's for you. Gripping and heartbreaking. This one stayed with me long after I finished reading.

Cilka’s Journey is a beautiful book. Please do go right out and buy it. It would make a wonderful book club selection.

The power and curse of beauty. Cilka uses her beauty to survive and thrive. After the war she is seen as a
collaborator because of her survival. It is a true story, and a true ethical delima. Good story for some lively
discussion at a book group

I found Cilka's Journey to be a compelling, yet harrowing read. A wonderful heroine, yet a hard subject, it leaves the reader feeling uneasy, the fact that this book is based on real life. However I have no hesitation in recommending it to all lovers of historical fiction.

Cilka's Journey was an emotional and gripping.novel. Cilka Klein's life was full of tragedy and triumph and I was all in for the ride. I could not put this book down.

How does one review a book that is an emotional masterpiece based on true events? As someone who knows a fair deal about the Holocaust, I was shockingly unaware of the post WWII labor camps set up for those who had been accused of helping the Nazis. Many of the events detailed in this book are understandably difficult to process as they relate not only what happened to Cilka after liberation, but the choices she made before then as a means of survival.
The author takes a distressing time of history and makes it palatable without watering it down, her atmospheric and engaging writing style pulling the reader in. I had not read The Tattooist of Auschwitz before this one, which is labeled as a sequel (or at least a follow up), but never found myself lost or confused. My heart broke for Cilka and the other characters over and over again, my despair augmented by the fact that many of those in the book were real, living people at one time, not characters merely brought to life by the author's imagination.
Five stars for this must-read book.

Cilka’s Journey is the follow-up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. Cilka Klein was just 18 when Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by Soviet soldiers, but instead of being freed, Cilka is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis. Cilka did what she had to do to survive the concentration camp, but that is not taken into consideration. She is sent to the Vorkuta Gulag in Sibera where she is sentenced to 15-years of labor. Cilka once again uses her wits and charm to survive another awful ordeal.

I really enjoyed The Tattooist of Auschwitz especially Lale and Gita’s story. One thing that made that book special was that it was based on interviews with Lale. Unfortunately, Heather Morris was unable to track Cilka down before finishing this book so some of it is loosely based on her time in Vorkuta. The one thing I loved about Cilka in the first book was her strength. She did what she had to do to survive and then was punished for that. It was hard to remember she was just 16 in The Tattooist of Auschwitz and only 18 in the beginning of Cilka’s Journey. She seems so much older because of all she had to go through.

I did enjoy this book, but not as much as the first one. I liked the love story towards the end and was happy when Cilka was released from the labor camp and able to finally be free. I can’t imagine going through everything she went through and remaining so strong throughout it all.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I actually found the story of Cilka’s Journey to be a more interesting read than the first book. Cilka was very brave and such a caring individual. I’m so glad the author learned about Cilka as she spent time with Lale, and went on to research and write this book.