Thank you to St Martins Press and Netgalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest review. All opeinions are my own. WOW!!! This book was so amazing yet heartbreaking at the same time! For me, it was even better than The Tattoist of Auschwitz. I loved it so much. I recommend this to everyone and would definitely read again. 5 stars!!!

For some reasons, I have had a hard time getting into the story and I gave up at 50% mark. The pace is slow though the plot sounds promising. As a fan of holocaust literature, I have to say this book is a slight disappointment. But I am going to give it another try again because of all the rave reviews.

After a very depressing beginning (the worst portions of Nazism in the depths of WW2), an informative, challenging and ultimately uplifting tale, following the life of a woman born in Czechoslovakia, who was a teen during the war, and spent the 1950s in a Soviet gulag. Life gets better as she finds camaraderie, forgiveness (for doing what was required to survive in the camps), and love as she is finally released from the camp.

“Cilka’s Journey” is a well written continuation of a character introduced in “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”. When I saw this in NetGalley, I was intrigued. The previous book by Heather Morris was one of my favorites in this genre of historic fiction. ‘Cilka’s Journey” shared yet another story of humans in miserable circumstances, coping, surviving and prevailing. I thought I’d read enough of this kind of story, but I was wrong. I needed to read this and will recommend this to our customers. Thanks NetGalley

Cilka's Journey is a fictionalized version of nonfiction events from an incredible woman who survived unthinkable acts during WWII.

I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris from Netgalley when it was first available and fell in love. It was my first netgalley read and am incredible one to start out with. When I saw that Heather had a follow up story with Cilka's story I knew I needed to read it.

Though I was not impacted by the story as much as Tattooist, I do believe this is a book anyone who enjoys historical fiction would enjoy as well. As per Heather's last book, it is short and packed full of raw detailed events that though are fictionalized for the story telling give the reader some insight to what this incredible woman (Cilka) had to encounter during her time through the holocaust.

While Tattooist was more the love story and connection of two people that strength and passion that lead them to survive, Cilka's Journey takes us through the strength and passion of one girl-whom was forced to grow up too quickly-to survive purely by her own will and need to survive to see another day. By contrast having Cilka's Journey be focused soley on her life currently, her memories before war, and what lead her to be in the "sentence" she is in the readers get a good insight to the determination and will one person can have. How every choice you make determines your fate and how you truly are the only factor in your own happiness. Cilka embodies her choices determining her fate during this time and uses them in accordance to her survival. Not only do we see her at her most vunerable, we see her use the vunerablity to give her strength, power, friendships and ultimately her freedom.

A little too gloomy to my liking. I feel the Tattooist book #1 was much better. Because although it dealt with a similar gloomy story, it had adventure, suspense and more hope in it.

Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris is the second book in The Tattooist of Auschwitz series. I have not read the first one (The Tattooist of Auschwitz), but that did not affect my enjoyment of Cilka's Journey, it works just fine as a standalone. This book is the story of Cilka, based on the real-life Cilka, something I did not realize until I was reading the "extras" at the end of the book. There is no way for me to even imagine living through what those at concentration camps went through, let alone the horrors of surviving Auschwitz and then being imprisoned in Siberia (all the way in the Arctic Circle) for basically surviving Auschwitz. This was not an easy read and parts of it were heartbreaking, but the writing flowed beautifully and drew me into Cilka's life. I felt deeply for her and was sad when the book was finished. I love to read historical fiction, especially for stories just like this, highly recommend!

I just loved this book, it gave you insight into what happened to people during the war. From their perspective, without being overly graphic. Great characters, great writing.

Wow, I loved Cilka’s story even more that Lale’s! What a beautiful story. This woman survived the unbelievable not once but twice. Wow, so happy to have had the honor or hearing her story. My heart breaks for her and so many others that had survived the Holocaust only to be sent to the Gulag in Siberia.

I wanted to love this book, but I found the writing clumsy and trite. I felt that this was just a poorer version of the Tatooist of Auschwitz and didn't veer much from that story.

I had this book on my TBR for awhile, but was a bit disappointed with her previous novel (The Tattooist of Auschwitz) that I put it off. I listened the previous one, so decided that I would read this one and I must say, I think I made the right decision. Although this says #2, you do not have to have read the first book to understand of follow the story here. Three are characters mentioned from the first book, but that is it. This book was written after hearing about Cilka from Lale during interviews for the first book, but the author is clear that while the story is based on actual events, it is still a novel of fiction. She had to add much detail and many occurrences from her mind.

In 1942, Cecilia ‘Cilka’ Klein was taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. She was only sixteen years old and was raped and taken as a mistress for a high ranking officer. Cilka was eighteen after liberation, but she was not set free. She was accused of prostituting herself and to being a spy due to the fact that she could speak other languages, specifically German. She is sentenced to 15 years in a prison camp in Siberia. No one understands or believes that she did what she had to in order to survive. Once again, Cilka ends up in another place where power is essential for survival. She is again thrown into a situation where she needs to use her wits, her intelligence and her looks to survive.

I always hate using the word "enjoy" when it comes to books dealing with the suffering and horror of war, specifically WWII. I was hooked right from the start and although emotional and heartbreaking, I wanted to see what happened to these prisoners, specifically Cilka and her friends. These prisoners dealt with such harshness and cruelty, but there was also compassion, bravery and loyalty. Whenever one prisoner was cruel to another, I cried inside, but then had to put it in perspective and realize they were all trying to survive.

I have no idea how I would deal with similar situations and pray that I never do. This is a book that with characters that will remain with me for quite awhile. It has me thinking about many things. Heather Morris wrote a well-plotted story that shared a part of history that I was unaware of. A story of hope, survival and resilience of the human spirit. A story of love and compassion in very indifferent and cruel time. I definitely recommend this one.

What an awesome and haunting book. I re-read it several times to make sure that I didn't miss anything. The fact that this was based on a true story made it more fantastic. Thank you for this journey.

Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
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📚 Cilka's Journey is the story of a young girl who survived the atrocities of Auschwitz-Birkenau by any means necessary, only to face imprisonment within the Soviet gulag system, after almost reaching freedom. Accused of being a spy, collaborating with the enemy, and prostitution with SS officers during her time in the concentration camp, she must now serve fifteen years in the Vorkuta prison camp in Siberia. Here, the ever-persistent bitter cold, the hunger beyond measure, and the dangerous mandated work, ultimately killed 6 million prisoners. Amongst this new version of hell, Cilka, a brave, strong, intelligent, and above all, compassionate girl, became a woman.
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📚 I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz this year and I DID NOT LIKE IT. 😶 Consider this one a "spin-off" from the first book, more than a sequel. PSA: This one was better AND can be read as a stand alone. 😉😉😉
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📚 Inaccuracies to real events are expected. This is a work of fiction based on research and details obtained by the author, but a lot of it is admittedly, imagined. She filled in gaps, made up characters where needed, combined actual people linked to Cilka into one, and developed an image and story of Cilka and what she could have experienced. The author disclosing this, made reading it a more enjoyable experience.
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📚 Big thanks to Net Galley & St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to dive into this novel.

3.5 stars / A really good addition to the Tattooist of Auschwitz that focuses on one of the minor (but very real!) people in the book. This book felt very long, but I didn’t find it very hard to get through — I just feel like some parts could have been edited a little bit more. If you liked Tattooist, you will most likely enjoy this as well!

Another powerful book by Ms. Morris. This is Cilka’s story after the liberation of the concentration camp. This is the story about true strength and survival.

I appreciate the story taking up from where we last see Cilka in the Tatooist of Auschwitz with some flashbacks to that time to fill out the story.

While this is a work of fiction, the research is evident. The emotional roller coaster believeable. I felt like I was on this journey too and I don’t think I could have survived like Cilka did. She is a hero to me too.

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

Brief Summary: I first met Cilka in the Tattooist of Auschwitz as she is a fellow prisoner and friend of Gita’s. Now we hear about how she is condemned when the camp is liberated for sleeping with the Nazi commander and taken to a Siberian prisoner camp, where she faces new challenges.

Highlights: Cilka is an awesome heroine and I’m so glad we got a whole book about her story. I had no idea Jews were sent to work camps after the liberation for sleeping with the Nazis. I loved how she passed on favors afforded to her; she is the epitome of the pay it forward concept. I like this better than the tattooist of our switch. Her work on the maternity ward was fascinating. I also found the dynamics of the workcamp fascinating too.

Rating: 4/5

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

After reading Tatooist of Auschwitz this is a must read. I found this much harder to read with the details.

*May contain spoilers* 3.5 Stars

I'm a little embarrassed how long it took me to actually finish this book. But having finally finished it I have mixed feelings about the overall book. I'm a lover of historical fiction and having read the first installment in this series I was anticipating to realllly love this book. I'm shocked to see how most couldn't put it down as I thought there were SEVERAL sections that seemed to move so slowly; and then it sped up so fast at the end to give it the sweet tidy ending everyone knows is coming-it fell a little short for me. I'm amazed that it's based on a true story and Cilka's story, like so many of that time, is one of bravery, courage and endurance.

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so tough to read. The things these women went through in the Siberian Gulag, just gutted me. But Morris has a way of making sure she gives the reader a break from all the dismal things, and I love how she weaves a thread of hope through all of her stories. I'll definitely read her next book, but I'm not sad for a break from her harsh stories for a while.

I loved the Tattooist of Auchwitz and was really excited to read this sequel. It did not disappoint. It was heartbreaking, inspring, tragic, and hopeful. I loved it and would definitely recommend it.