Called a whore for being used by the nazis. Given more time in another camp for collaboration with her captors. Hated by the very women she will help because didn't have so bad in the nazi camp. Just a child when she was sent to the camps. Just another jew. But Cilka wasn't just another whore, jew, or woman. She was unbreakable and thrived. She helped those who needed her. This was the first book by Heather Morris I read and now I have read all her books. Which are all great. I recommend everything she writes to everyone. This is my history and our world's history. It needs to be told. Heather Morris does it perfectly!!!

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to read/review this book due to other commitments. I will certainly update this review if/when I have the chance to read the book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

This was a tough book about a brave woman who had been in Auschwitz then got put into a Soviet prison camp. She acted a nurse, worked on an ambulance, and more. The descriptions of both camps is grim. Not a book to read if you want to be cheered up.

4 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's press for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have yet to read the Tattooist of Auschwitz, but was able to read this book and understand it just fine without having read the first book. It was a fast read for me. It was by no means a light, fluffy, happy story to go through with Cilka. Her story was quick due to the fact that, despite all of the horrors she had to live through, it was impossible to put the book down in hopes that her story will ultimately have a happier ending. She is often referred to as a strong person, but she herself does not feel as if she is. Her main goal is survival, and she will do what it takes to be free some day. Cilka's journey starts in this novel when the prisoners of Auschwitz are told they are free. Some, like Cilka, are made to stay behind for questioning. She survived one brutal camp to be sent to another. She makes new friends and enemies while there. She is blackmailed and has to tolerate the same abuse by the men of this new camp as she did the last. Fortunately for her, she is strong in mind and body despite all of the abuse. There is so much I can go on about what I loved about her character and growth, but it is best if you give this book a read for yourself.

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What a fantastic follow up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Well written and a beautiful story.. I’m so glad Heather Morris extender her writing to Cilka’s story.

What a heart-wrenching but strong story about a women, forgotten by time but loved by so many. Cilka is a real person that the author has painstakingly tried to unearth and bring to life with the many stories and known information about her. But the author has also brought the time alive. To know that any woman, after having living through concentration camps and survived at such a young age - to then be put in a prison is Siberia. She was weak and malnourished and so beaten down by life and yet...she survived. I love that the author is both shedding light on so many injustices that many have turned a blind eye on but also of the friendships, the love and the caring people were able to share with each other - even when all hope should have been lost. Amazing. I loved this one.

This book was not for me but I am sure some people may enjoy. It was a did not finish for me. I would consider trying another of this authors books.

Happy birthday, Cilka Klein! (17 March 1926-24 June 2004) How fitting that I finished reading Cilka's Journey on March 17!
May we all find inspiration and strength from Cilka's story!
Cilka Klein was introduced to readers by Heather Morris in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Cilka's Journey is her story.
Upon liberation from Auschwitz, Cilka finds her freedom short lived as she is charged with collaborating with the enemy because she "allowed" the enemy to sleep with her. She did this simply to survive. Her "enemy relations" also allowed many others to survive such as Lale, the Tattooist.
Cilka was brave when most would have given up, beautiful when everything was desolate, and compassionate when others became hateful.
The Vokuta Gulag has to be the most uninhabitable place on Earth, yet over 62,000 prisoners passed through this mining camp located nearly 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
Cilka's story--part fact, part fiction--moves the reader's heart and soul.

Loved, loved, loved this book. I love reading about the holocaust. I can't even imagine what their lives must have been like but if this account is accurate in the book, then it was even worse than I originally thought. I'd love to know if Cilka was a real person. I've done some research on this book but it was inconclusive. I'd love to know what happened to her after she left the concentration camps. I believe she did what she had to do to survive. I felt badly how she was treated for having to do that.

CILKA'S JOURNEY • Heather Morris • Started & Finished September 2019 • ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (rounded up)

Thank you NetGallery and St. Martin's Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. Most importantly, thank you Heather Morris for continuing to document the stories of these inspiring survivors.

Quick Synopsis: Cilka is just sixteen years old when she is taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in 1942. Her beauty saved her — and condemned her. When 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. 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. 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.

This book can be read as a standalone, though Cilka was a character in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Similar to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, this was an incredibly compelling work of historical fiction that pulls from the stories of a real survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau. While Morris never had the opportunity to speak to Cilka herself, her story is a collection of what other's who knew her had to stay about her as well as historical research. Instead of focusing on a love story, Cilka's Journey is more about strength, perseverance, and the sheer will to survive even if it seems there is nothing worth surviving for. Morris does an amazing job at capturing Cilka's resilience, pragmatism, and kindness. Readers also see how grey morality looks when death is a very real daily threat.

Morris has a very succinct and to the point writing style. Because of this, there is not a lot of emotion in the writing itself or detailed transitions from moment to moment. For some readers, this style of writing may create emotional distance between the story and the reader for what should be an emotive, heart-wrenching story. I happened to appreciate the writing style though, as it made a topic that would normally make my stomach churn more palatable.

I did read The Tattooist of Auschwitz prior to Cilka's Journey so I will give a quick comparison: The Tattooist had a firmer grip on my heart because of Lale and Gita's forbidden romance (and I am usually not one for love stories!). The hardships that Cilka is continuously forced to endure, and the other characters woven into her story made Cilka's Journey a very different and interesting read. Overall, I did enjoy this book and will be recommending it, especially to those who read and enjoyed The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

TRIGGER WARNING: Rape is an element of this story. It is reported without detailed violence, but may still disturb some readers. I would add though that it should be distributing and hard to read because this story is about an atrocious time in our world's history.

Wonderfully written historical fiction that takes you away to another time and place. Throughout the tradegies that follow Cilka - we keep rooting for her and her happily ever after! I have loved both books in this series and look forward to more works by this author.

I ended up not finishing this book, as I realized after a deeper look at the book that it was not up my alley. Thank you though for the opportunity.

I'm finding it a bit difficult to review this book properly. Not because it's not good, because it's wonderful, but because it's a tough, tearful, heartfelt book. I honestly thought after reading The Tattooist Of Auschwitz that a follow up involving Cilka just couldn't live up to the first book. I was wrong. Cilka will steal your heart and make you laugh and cry. Her strength and character will astound you and what will really do you in is remembering that although this is a historical fiction, it is based on a real person and true events. And please, if you can, read the afterword. It's worth it!

I did like this book and thought the writing in Cilka's Journey was much better than The Tattooist of Auschwitz by the same author. Cilka's Journey did bring me in emotionally and I cheered for and admired Cilka greatly. While I cheered for Lale as well in Tattooist, I was not as engaged to the story on an emotional level.

It was a bit of an eye-opener to hear of an Auschwitz prisoner being sent to yet another prison in the form of a Russian Gulag. Most fictional Holocaust stories that I've read end with victims moving on to better lives after they were liberated. To hear a story of a poor girl that had been raped and forced to perform the most awful tasks, to only then be condemned of being a collaborator without trial, was just horrifying. I liked the style of interweaving Cilka's Auschwitz story with her Vorkuta story, interspersed with stories from her childhood.

All in all, I recommend this book to historical fiction lovers. It provides a perspective I hadn't read before and has definitely left me still thinking about some of the characters and events in the story. All clues that this is a worthwhile read!

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with this book and opportunity to read and review.

I’m so disappointed with this one. After all the Hype from the Tattooist of Auschwitz I thought this was going to be amazing, however for me it fell short.

I don’t think I can blame the book entirely as I haven’t read the Tattooist of Auschwitz yet and this could be one of the main reasons why I didn’t connect with her at all. The story itself was super moving as are most tellings from this terribly sad era and it pulled at heartstrings for sure. However it just didn’t do it for me. I may halve also set the expectations a little too high.

Overall a good book- but nothing I’d rave about. Not my cup of tea.

ARC received by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Heather Morris did not disappoint with this spin-off, Cilka's Journey. She has hit the jackpot writing the stories of characters and roles we've never read before in other WWII historical fictions and non-fictions. The writing is simple but made extraordinary by her characters and their stories. Cilka's Journey is a tearjerker that you will not be able to put down and will stay with you for the months and years to come.

This book tells the story of Cilka Klein, a prisoner of both a concentration camp and a gulag. Told in alternating time, Cilka's story unfolds like an onion, making readers cry. While not as gorgeous as The Tattooist, it is a great story. I understand that liberties were taken, but still a wonderful story that contains a lot of truth and sadness.

A great follow up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz...equally as addictive and moving. Absolyte must read

I picked this book up bc I had read and and enjoyed The Tattooist of Auschwitz. By now most of you are familiar with the book and its enduring love story. I found that it was so different from your usual WWII book and so touching that I couldn't resist this book. As with The Tattooist of Auschwitz Heather Morris takes a different turn.

In <b>Cilka's Journey</b> we meet up with 18 year old Cilka Klein after she has left Auschwitz. She is accused of being a spy and denounced for "sleeping with the enemy". While others are freed from Auschwitz Cilka is sent off to the Siberian gulags. Through Cilka's experience we get a bird's eye view of some of the atrocities women endured during that time. It's a story that isn't usually told in history class. These were experiences that held a different kind of shame. I have always found it interesting that we will readily discuss the slaughter of millions of people. We have no problem talking about the depravity that brought us to such low depths. But we are silent when it comes to the rape and abuse of women. No one really wants to tell that story. That is until now. I applaud Heather Morris for telling the story of hundreds of nameless women and for finally giving a face and a voice to these stories of strength and resilience.

<i>Special thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Heather Morris for access to this work.</i>

Wow. Was heart-wrenching and an amazing story. I absolutely adore historical fiction and this story just felt so real and like I was there experiencing all the pain and strength the characters showed.