A Review of the Book "Cilka's Journey" by Heather Morris

Title: Cilka's Journey

Author: Heather Morris
Publisher: St Martin's Publishing Group
Year: 2019
321 pages

After the publication of "The Tattooist of Auschwitz", Heather Morris received numerous queries about "what happened to Cilka?" She decided to begin research and writing in order to continue Cilka's story, thus creating "Cilka's Journey". And while the story mentions events from "The Tattooist of Auschwitz", this book can certainly be read as a stand-alone.

"Cilka's Journey" tells the story of a young teenager who survived three years in Auschwitz-Birkenau only to be arrested and imprisoned in Siberia to serve a fifteen-year sentence of hard-labour. Her charge? Doing what she had to do to stay alive and, as a result, was accused of being a spy.

Once again, Cilka loads on a train and is off to some unknown place, fearing for her life and wondering if she will ever get to live a "normal" life. She doesn't even tell the women she is now living with about her past, shamed about what she did and scared that these women will resent her for her actions. Men claimed her as their own, just as they did in Auschwitz, and Cilka continued to do everything she could just to stay alive.

Morris continues to write with such emotion that you can't help but become attached to the characters, and to feel anger at how people are treated, and to be flabbergasted at the gall of a sixteen year old being charged with espionage simply because she happened to survive one of the most horrific set of events in human history.

A beautifully written piece of historical fiction based on true events, "Cilka's Journey" is an excellent addition to anyone's library. I highly recommend it, with or without having read "The Tattooist of Auschwitz".