I’ve never read The Tattoist of Aushwitz but I’m going to now! This book, even though obviously a fictional account of Cilka Klein, is amazing. I honestly think Cilka’s Journey could be a modern Diary of Anne Frank. Every middle school student should read this book and learn the horrors of concentration camps, but also the heroic characteristics of perseverance and long-suffering. Fantastic book!

I missed the notification that I was approved for this early copy, so having been looking forward to this since reading tatooist, I got this on Audible. It did not disappoint!

Cilka has been through an unimaginable hell, the brought to a second hell for a conviction on bogus charges. Cilka's beauty caught her captors attention, but her intellect is what kept her safe for all those terrifying years. A quick study, Cilka becomes a nurse as well as a confidant to her hut mates. She will do anything to protect the others, even at her own detriment.

I believe people like Cilka do exist and that they are special and rare. The kindnesses she showed her fellow prisoners and the punishments she accepted to protect them prove a moral compass like few other had.

A book by the same author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz which is based on truth told to the author by Lale a man who was featured in the first book. This is Cilka's story based on a woman Lale knew from Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp during World War II.
These are Lale's words about her.

“Did I tell you about Cilka?" "No, Lale, you didn't. Who was Cilka?" "She was the bravest person I ever met. Not the bravest girl, the bravest person.”


Like The Tattooist of Auschwitz this book has staying power and will stay on my heart for a long time. The sequence of events are something that will not be easily forgotten.
Cilka Klein survives Auschwitz only to find herself locked up again.
Raw,emotional,tear jerker!
When she is finally freed by Allies in the camp, Cilka was arrested by the Soviets for collaboration with the Nazis and sent to a gulag (labor camp) in Siberia.
She is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.
The strength this young woman had it commendable, instead of hanging her head in shame she looks her captors right in the eyes and does whatever it takes to survive.

Published October 1st 2019 by St. Martin's Press
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

I loved reading about Cilka and what happened to her at this vital time in our history.

Cilka's journey is a wroth while read and gives readers a glimpse into what happened to girls when they help the enemy.

Cilka’s Journey was one of those books that just makes you think. When you read about everything that happened to Cilka, you cannot help to wonder: How is this possible? How can a person survive this? Nevertheless, Cilka did, and we know it is not just a fictional character or a sugarcoated story that will have a happy ending. It is a real story and its realness can sometimes be hard to process but reading about Cilka and her strength is something not to be missed.
Sometimes I ask myself why I do like reading sad books and it is not that I like suffering, but I believe we need to know the stories of those who survived and even those who didn’t to fully understand how lucky we are. Moreover, to remember there is cruelty in this world but there is also a silver lining and good people out there.
Cilka’s Journey was a great book, a unique story told with beautiful words. I have yet to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, but I couldn’t let the opportunity of reading Cilka’s story go. I will certainly read Morris’ first book soon.

Cilka's Journey is a follow-up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, although you don't have to read Tattooist in order to read this one. Cilka was a minor character in Tattooist, and this book primarily tells her story following Auschwitz. Since she was involved (against her will) with SS officers at Auschwitz, she was seen to be collaborating with the Nazis and sentenced to a Russian prison just when she thought she was free. She is strong and hopeful, despite the terrible situations and places she is in. This story is one of her strength, her hope and her view in some of the worst places imaginable.

The key to remember for me was that this is a work of fiction. The author never interviewed Cilka and has said that this is based on other research and interviews, but some characters are fictional and details are created based on her research, but not necessarily the real story. The controversy surrounding this book could have easily been avoided had she just created a purely fictional character in these circumstances, and when read through that lens, it's a much more enjoyable book.

If you are a fan of historical fiction this book is for you.
I read Tattooist of Auschwitz and knew that I had to immediately read Cilka's Journey. If you have read Tattooist than this is a must read for you. I will say that I did not like it AS much as the other, and I know i have read plenty of reviews saying that they didn't like how it almost made the camps seem "glamorized" or like there was something GOOD about it, but it's still a work of fiction, the writer is trying to tell a story, but also to write a book. I would not go into this thinking that it is entirely 100% all true story, but it was a great book and still a really good story.

5 stars! I was absolutely riveted by “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” and when I had an opportunity to read a pre-release of the follow up novel, “Cilka’s Journey”, I was thrilled. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I highly recommend it. I anticipated that I might be disappointed with the second book because I thought it would be impossible to top the first one. However, I genuinely liked “Cilka’s Journey” as much as I did the previous novel. Thus, 5 stars! It would make an excellent book club selection and it’s not necessary to read “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” first.

The best way that I can describe this novel is that it is about inner strength and the determination to live. It is loosely based on the true story of Cilka Klein, a young woman who finds a way to stay alive in Auschwitz when so many others are perishing. The novel is about resilience under the worst of circumstances not once, but twice. When the Soviets liberate Auschwitz, Cilka is forced to work in a labor camp in Siberia due to her “collaboration” with the Nazis. She uses whatever means necessary to keep living. She is brave and determined. She is courageous and she perseveres.

I received an advance copy of this novel; all opinions are my own.

I want to start this review by saying that I loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz and I was highly anticipating the release of this book. The release of this book came around the same time I had my first baby so unfortunately I didn't get to this book as soon as I wanted to. This addition to the series reads very differently from the first book in the series. The first book in the series captivated me and made me turn page after page well into the middle of the night. Cilka was a character that I couldn't wait to learn more about and here we are given her continued story. I really like Cilka as a character. She is one strong woman in a horrible situation. In this book we follow her having to serve for her crimes while being detained in a concentration camp. It blew my mind that they could make her go to what is basically another concentration camp for something she did as a prisoner during the war. It was so hard watching her go through this all over again. My main issue with this book was that it felt all over the place. We receive a lot of flash backs that kept removing me from the story. It made reading this book very frustrating and hard to get through. I found myself skimming and not caring when I got to sections of the book like that. I'm sure the author included them to help remind us what happened in the previous book or to allow people who hadn't read the first book to understand and read this one by itself. To me, it felt very disjointed and interrupted the flow of the story. Due to constantly being removed from the story I could never get a good rhythm and didn’t enjoy this book as much as I could have. I still would like to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

Cilka's Journey is SUCH a powerful book.
There really isn't enough good things I could say about t his book. You need to read it.
Everything about this book is fanastic. The writing is beautiful. The storyline is powerful and devastating.
I could NOT put this book down once I started, and neither will you.

I was excited to get an copy of this since I had not been able to get my hands on Morris’s previous book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Everyone had raved about The Tattooist, so I expected good things from Cilka’s Journey, and it certainly lived up to the hype. It works fine as a read alone, but now I can’t wait to read the first one. Cilka amazingly survived the concentration camp, only because she was young and pretty when she arrived so she was chosen by an S.S. officer to be his sex slave. As if that wasn’t horrible enough, when liberation finally came she was arrested by the Russians for collaboration with the enemy and sent to a prison camp in Siberia where conditions were only marginally survivable. The saddest thing of all is that it is based on a true story. Cilka’s courage, strength, and loyalty to her friends are incredibly moving, and her will to live is indomitable. From one horrifying situation to another, she somehow manages to never give up. This book is devastating and inspiring all at once, so well written and powerful. One of the best of the year!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris. This was such a powerful story of a young women’s perseverance during a horrific time in our history. I was so inspired by Cilka’s bravery throughout her years of traumatic experiences. My heart broke for her in so many ways. Heather Morris is a very talented author. I felt as though I was watching a movie of Cilka’s life instead of reading it. Her writing and descriptions were so thorough. This was a very tough read, but one that I think is a necessary to read to understand our world ‘s history and not make the same mistakes. 5 star read for me!

From a concentration camp to a gulag. That is Cilka's life. After being at Auschwitz-Birkenau where she was a sex-slave to several guards, upon being freed by the Soviets she was sentenced to a gulag for collaborating with the Nazis. Once there, Cilka is afraid that people will find out about the things she was forced to do at Auschwitz. Hiding that, she manages to develop a life with the other prisoners there.

At times heartbreaking, at times hopeful, this is ultimately a story of survival against all odds. It makes you think about man's cruelty to each other and how in spite of that people find ways to maintain their humanity.

Cilka was one of the many Jewish people who taken from their homes and placed in concentration camps. She was one of the few that lived through Auschwitz. As a girl of 16, her only thought was "survive". She lived through sexual assaults and was forced to be the block leader of the women whose next stop was the gas chamber. Her reward for all of this was to be branded a war criminal by the Russians for sleeping with the enemy. She was sentenced to Siberia for 15 years for her "crimes". Once there, she had the good fortune of meeting a female MD at the base who took her under her care and kept her as safe as she could. It was during this time that Cilka met her future husband.

This book is not for the faint of heart. What these women endured just to survive is unthinkable. As the author points out at the end, there were no records kept of sexual assaults and it is thought that this behavior was normal throughout the prison camps. While some creative license was used to fill in gaps of known events, Morris stayed true to the heart of Cilka's story. This is a heart-wrenching read, but SUCH an important one. If we don't learn from our history, we will be destined to repeat the same mistakes.

I cannot recommend this book (and the prequel to this one) enough. Five out of five stars.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and St Martin's press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to author Heather Morris, the publisher, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.


WOW!!!! What an amazing, compelling story of the aftermath of the Nazi death camps. We have all heard about the death camps. But I had never heard about the aftermath for the survivors. What has happened to the families, the friends, the homes, and villages?

This is the story of what happened afterwards for Cilka. She was interned to Birkenau at age 16. And being a beautiful young lady, she survived by being "kept" by high-ranking Nazi officers. Worse than that, she is in charge of a ward that houses women for one night before heading to the gas chamber.

She survives this horror and is liberated by the Russian Army. Unfortunately, she is then found guilty of collaborating with the Nazis and is sentenced to 15 years hard labor in a Siberian labor camp.

This is her story. How she survived, how she dealt with her guilt over surviving Birkenau, of how she maintained the essence of who she was. It is an amazing story of an amazing woman. It is the story of how fire, unable to destroy something, can make it stronger.

It is one of the most amazing stories of how depraved people can be while others humanity grows stronger.

It is an important story of World War Two which everyone should read.

Wow. Heather Morris has done it again. Her attention to detail, to careful character building, and her ability to tackle intense, triggering situations that detail the worst of humanity is amazing. You can tell she's done the research, talked to people who lived the experiences, and has the utmost respect for what she's writing about. The relationships she creates between Cilka and the women she meets is powerful. A really great book that details another part of post-WWII that rarely gets talked about.

(very late in my review - thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in return for my honest review).

If you read The Tattooist of Auschwitz then do yourself the favour and read this book. Written by Heather Morris in the same honest, raw, beautiful way - she doesn't shy away from what Cilka's life in the Camps - both in Germany and in Siberia must have been like.

While this story is based on a real person, unlike the "Tattooist of Auschwitz", this story is not based on interviews between Cilka and Morris. That being said - it still feels like a memoir, Morris did such an exceptional job researching not only what happened to Cilka, but also what the Serbian camp was like.

When we met Cilka in "The Tattooist of Auchwitz", she survived Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration camp by "collaborating" with the commandant. When the prisoners where liberated, the Russians considered her an enemy of the state, and so rather than leaving the camp, she was imprisoned a second time. Sent to Siberia to live out her fate, Cilka not only had to survive her new environment, she also had to live with the guilt of thinking she really did collaborate with the Nazi's - rather than understand that she had been raped and had had no say it what was happening. As a reader you understood that she wasn't guilty - but Morris did a really brilliant job of treating Cilka the way she would have been treated post WWII; capturing the hostilities that continued to boil under the service of "us vs. them" during the war.

If you read Between Shades of Gray - this book has a very similar feel. It reaches into your gut and leaves you wondering how humans can be so cruel. And also, how people can survive that cruelty.

I said this when I reviewed the "Tattooist of Auschwitz", and "Between Shades of Grey" - and I will now include "Cilka's Journey" in the mix - these should all be required reading. Not only should schools continue to encourage the reading of The Diary of Anne Frank: And Related Readings, but they should include these books as well. The more we can learn about these events, the more I hope we will learn what not to do.

Really beautifully written. Highly recommended read.

Author Heather Morris introduces readers to Cilka in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. The beautiful young girl is working quietly in the administration building when she is dragged away from her desk by two SS officers and thrown into a room furnished with a bed and dresser where Schwarzhuber, the head of Birkenau is waiting for her. Cilka quickly understands what is expected of her. Resistance would cost her her life. For the remainder of her time in the camp, she is ridiculed by some prisoners as Schwarzhuber's "plaything," but all understand the cost of survival. None better than the tattooist himself, Lale Sokolov, who later declared Cilka "the bravest person I ever met."

When the camp is liberated in January 1945, Cilka's nightmare does not end. As Cilka's Journey begins, she has been in the custody of the Soviet Army for several weeks. Only eighteen years old, she is dragged out of the cell block for questioning, but hopeful "they can see that she had no choice but to do what she did in order to survive. No choice, other than death." She dreams of making her way home to Czechoslovakia. In response to questioning about whether she prostituted herself to the enemy, she says, truthfully, "I was forced, I was raped." Instead of being treated with compassion, she is transferred to a prison in Krakow where, in July 1945, she is informed she has been convicted of working with the enemy as a prostitute and sentenced to fifteen years hard labor.

Thrust onto a train bound for Vorkuta Gulag, Siberia, with other female prisoners, Cilka's journey to more suffering begins. She curses herself for indulging "just one moment of hope" and ponders whether punishment is what she truly deserves. She soon discovers that many of the other women are also being punished for "crimes" of survival such as operating a bakery in Poland that sold bread to Nazis. Still, Cilka keeps her past a secret, fearful of being judged and ostracized -- or worse -- by the other women. She befriends a young girl, Josie, who reminds her of her friend Gita, Lale's beloved. Just sixteen, Josie is traveling with her grandmother and Cilka knows that the naive teenager needs guidance.

Cilka remains by Josie's side as they arrive at and are processed into the camp and housed together in a bunker with several other women. They forge a friendship that will forever change both of them. They have been sentenced to hard labor and Cilka wonders if knowing the end date, unlike during her last imprisonment, will make it more endurable. Assuming that she can even believe the end date is accurate. Regardless, she knows from experience that in order to survive she will have to advance her status in the camp, as well as Josie's, without drawing attention.

Morris relates Cilka's experiences and details the relationships she develops in the prison, interspersing the current narrative with Cilka's memories both of her happy childhood with her family and her days in Auschwitz-Birkenau. She is depressed and hopeless, finding herself punished for what she has already endured. But her will to live is strong and will not be diminished. She persists, often letting anger carry her forward. But always guarding her emotions and the truth about her past.

She comes to the attention of Doctor Kalani, Yelena Georgiyevna, who has volunteered to be assigned to the camp hospital in an effort to help improve conditions there. She offers to train Cilka to work as a nurse, and Cilka sees the opportunity as a way to help her fellow prisoners, women with whom she has come to share affection and a bond.

Her benevolence extends to Hannah, who is blackmailing her -- demanding that she steal medicine from the hospital in exchange for keeping her secret. She desperately wants to explain that she was just sixteen years old, and the ability to choose was torn from her. "I simply stayed alive." But she cannot speak of it. In this prison, too, the women must tolerate being abused by men in order to stay alive. Fortunately, Cilka, Josie, and some of the others are selected by a group of men who regularly come to their bunker, viewing them as their property. But at least they ensure that no others do.

Morris' telling of Cilka's story is straightforward, unsparing. And difficult to read because it is a work of fiction based upon the life of a woman who actually suffered unimaginable hardship and upon whom unspeakable horrors were visited. But it is also the story of how she did not merely survive. Cilka thrived, because she was determined and resilient, and managed to discover and retain her dignity and humanity. Although she does not believe that she has the capacity to hope or love, Cilka finds herself drawn to those around her who rely upon her strength and leadership.

Lale Sokolov credited Cilka with saving his life and yet again, Cilka's compassion and love for a fellow prisoner empower her to heroism. She puts her own desire for freedom aside in order for someone else to be liberated. She refuses to elevate her own circumstances until she knows that her friends in the camp are protected. By then, eight long years have passed.

Eventually, for Cilka, the time to live "without fear and with the miracle of love" arrives. Like her friends Lale and Gita, she finds sustaining love in the most unlikely place.

Like The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey is a fictionalized, powerful account of one woman's hardships during the darkest part of the twentieth century. Also like The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey is, at its core, a love story. But it is Cilka's love for life, coupled with her affection for and willingness to sacrifice for others that are the centerpieces of her story. A a result of choosing to live while imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Cilka suffers from survivor's guilt. She constantly questions whether she made the right decision and if she deserves to continue living, to ever be truly free again. But when she despairs and believes that she has no strength left, she always manages to keep going, fueled by resilience and courage that surprises no one more than her.

Cilka's Journey is a compelling and inspiring story of bravery and friendship, related by Morris with compassion and tenderness, as well as brutal frankness. It is an important story, among many that need to be told and re-told, about those who endured and flourished in the face of atrocity.

The will to survive at all costs, compounded by the a hint of PTSD for many of the characters, is how I read this, and it has resulted in my overdue comments. Cilka has survived the brutality of Auschwitz, but with the end of WWII, the Soviets decide she collaborated with the Nazis, and she is packed onto a train, another train, and sent to a gulag near the Arctic Circle. She is once again in survival mode, surrounded by people who want to use her, hate her, or could care less about her. Although the characters go about their reality on autopilot, even acts of kindness are subdued, this is basically nonfiction. The author has succeeded in intersecting traumatized characters with this emotionally drained reader.

Hang on for a roller coaster of a ride of emotions in this historical fiction book written by Heather Morris, Cilka’s Journey is the follow-up book to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, and tells the story of Cilka, a Slovakian girl, who has survived years of imprisonment in Auschwitz-Birkenau, only to be “freed” after the war and then forced to continue her time in a Russian prison camp in Siberia. Based on a true story, the story takes you through the full gamut of emotions. It’s a tough read at times, eliciting anger, tears, and compassion as the characters are dehumanized, forcibly raped, and forced to live and work in deplorable conditions in Siberia.

I would highly recommend this book. The characters were well-developed and the plot was interesting to watch as we saw prisoners from varied backgrounds and experience work together with the ultimate goal being survival. Cilka, in particular, was strong, courageous and determined, against all odds, to survive.

I am grateful to NetGalley for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. My only regret is that I did not have the opportunity to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz before this book. I plan to remedy that soon.