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

When I saw this book, I knew I wanted to read it. The cover caught my attention and the summary, a historical fiction novel based on a true survivor of the Holocaust, won me. Cilka's Journey revolves around Cilka's time at the Siberian camp after she was "saved" by the Soviet army, and how she tries to cope with her losses and gains. Why does she continue to survive when so many have died? Does she deserve the little bits of happiness and opportunities she keeps receiving? I decided to rate this book a 5/5 because Cilka's journey is different from the other Holocaust books I've read. Cilka has spent years submitting to violence against her body and mind, is now tired and resigned to her fate. The story tells the horrors women faced at concentration camps, but the emphasis is on the psychological trauma they developed. We see women with survivor's guilt, Stockholm syndrome, addiction, how they come to normalize and domesticize their situation (similarly to men who went to war), etc. At moments it feels less like I'm reading about prisoners at a camp, and more like the story of poor women in a foreign country, which is scary. I tell myself it wasn't so bad and then have to pause because this is the mentality these women had to force themselves into in order to survive. Cilka's Journey can be a hard book to get through unless you're really interested in the nonfiction background. Often it feels like the author could have added more details, especially so that we could better connect with Cilka, but I don't think her goal was to dramatize the events. It's a book with a heavily somber tone on every page

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Heather Morris, Bonnier Books UK, and St. Martin's Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Cilka's Journey of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am so pleased to recommend this novel to friends and family. Heather Morris is an awesome author, bringing us indelible histories to add to our memory banks. It is only by understanding our history that we can avoid repeating it. Cilka's Journey is a hard book to absorb, as are most WWII survivor stories based on historical fact, as this is. The human spirit is unstoppable in some, and those are the people we read about. Most of us are fairly certain we are not unstoppable. Simply surviving both Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and the Soviet Gulag at Vorkuta would be rare enough to be considered a miracle. Cilka managed to do it - with warmth and class. I was completely wrapped up in her story from beginning to end. She was a remarkable woman, and her journey is a story well told. Heather Morris shares with us in her afterward research notes and interview stories. The parts of this journey that touch your heart are based on the reality of Cilka's life. That feels good. She was a stalwart survivalist of the best kind. I can't wait to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, and anything else Heather Morris has written.

What would you be willing to do to survive? Is there ever any behavior that a person does to survive that is unacceptable to society? These are just two straightforward questions that Cilka's Journey will have you contemplating. This book will stir emotions in your head and your heart, leaving you questioning how people can be so incredibly cruel on the one hand and so unbelievingly kind and selfless on the other side. "Everyone affected by war, captivity, or oppression react differently- and away from it, people might try to guess how they would act, or react, in the circumstances. But they do not really know." Cilka's Journey is a companion novel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz but can be read as a standalone book. Although I have not read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I had no trouble following the story. Ms. Morris has done an exceptional job in writing and researching this novel. Although Cilka's Journey is based on a true story, Ms. Morris has admittedly taken some liberties to fill in the blanks. I would highly recommend that you read Note from Heather Morris, The Additional Information and Vorkuta-the White Hell, (Afterward by Owen Matthews) sections at the end of the book. They give a great deal of insight into the history of this period and the depth of Heather Morris's writing. The main emphasis of this book follows the period after the main character, Cecilia Klein "Cilka," is "liberated" from Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp by the Russians, where she has spent three years. Ms. Morris also gives us snippets of the time Cilka spent in Auschwitz that are dispersed throughout the book. We sometimes forget about what happened to the people who not only had to endure the incredible inhumane atrocities inflicted upon them by Nazism but then to have similar atrocities inflicted upon them by the Stalin regime. Unfortunately, under the harsh leadership of Stalin, Cilka is sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor- her crime, staying alive. "We have a report on you, Cecilia Klein. It says that you in fact stayed alive by prostituting yourself to the enemy." Ms. Morris has been meticulous in her writing, and there were many times I felt as if I was in the infamous Vorkuta Gulag located in Siberia. Reading about the gruesome and heinous conditions these women endured at times was difficult, but so compelling it was hard for me to put the book down. The lengths these women went through to survive in these conditions is beyond my imagination. Even though Cilka's story is decades old, it holds an essential place in the modern world. Cilka is a hero in my eyes. Cilka's Journey is not just a book for women of all ages to enjoy but also a book for all the men in their lives. Despite the horrific events the author describes in detail, this book is about survival, hope, friendship, and love. I highly recommend this book! ** Please note the quotes in my review are subject to change once the book is published** *** I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley/publisher/author. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion. ***

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.