Cilka's Journey: A Novel

Heather Morris

Oct 2019 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

From the author of the multi-million copy bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz comes a new novel based on a riveting true story of love and resilience.

Her beauty saved her — and condemned her.

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.

Ratings and reviews

It's unthinkable that a survivor of the horrors of Auschwitz should suffer the further injustice of a sentence in a Russian gulag, but that was Cilka's reality. This book centers on Cilka's time in that gulag, though there are flashbacks to her time in Auschwitz. At the beginning I wondered just how depressing this novel would get, but two things kept the darkness from becoming overwhelming: Cilka's enduring hopeful spirit and the author's sensitive handling of the women's abuse. Cilka's compassion for and understanding of others (even when they judged her harshly) made her a highly sympathetic character, and it was interesting to read about the various medical jobs she did. Unfortunately, the ending felt rushed, and since the love story wasn't developed at all until almost the very end, I couldn't get invested in it. Also, I was left wondering about Cilka's life after the end of the novel. I wish the author's note had at least mentioned whether she continued using her medical skills. I hadn't read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, but this worked fine as a standalone. My review is based on an ARC of this book.

Okay, wow. I was not expecting this. I, unlike the majority of people probably reading this book, have not yet read The Tattooist of Auschwitz. I have heard of it and added it to my TBR thanks to the my sister's glowing review, but I still have yet to sit down and read it. Therefore, I had little idea of what this book would be about, only that the two were somehow connected. I think I liked it better this way. When I met Cilka, I didn't have any preconceptions about her, or about what happened to her from before the period of time where this novel begins. Knowing this is based on actual history was almost too much to handle at some points. You'll find yourself shaking your head, tearing at the eyes. You'll want to put the book down to give yourself a moment to breath, but will also feel like you're choking for air until you figure out what comes next. Its so very sad, but I am so grateful I was able to read it. Though a fictional account, I didn't know these sorts of things occurred in actual history. I'm sure this story will stick with me for a long time, and I look forward to finally reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

"Such a small space of time has passed, but the words have been so large." Cilka's Journey is Heather Morris's follow up to her acclaimed Tattooist of Auschwitz, and follows the story of Cilka Klein. Cilka is a Jew that is first imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau and forced to endure and witness true horror. Her experiences there unfortunately sentence her to 15 years of hard labor in a Soviet Gulag. This however is not a story of injustice and suffering, though clearly that does occur. It is instead the story of healing, finding love in unlikely places and an unbeatable fortitude in the face of adversity. Cilka's Journey captivated me from the opening chapter. It is masterfully written and full of turns that keep you reading hours after you've decided to go to bed. It is not a pleasant read, as no book about Camps and Gulags can be, but the book will certainly leave you changed.

About the author

HEATHER MORRIS is a native of New Zealand, now resident in Australia. For several years, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned by an Academy Award-winning screenwriter in the US. In 2003, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who ‘might just have a story worth telling’. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Their friendship grew and Lale embarked on a journey of self-scrutiny, entrusting the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust to her. Heather originally wrote Lale’s story as a screenplay – which ranked high in international competitions – before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.