Cilka’s Journey - Heather Morris
About the book
She was the bravest person I ever met' — Lale Sokolov, The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The sequel to the International Number One Bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on a true story of love and resilience.
Based on the heart-breaking true story of Cilka Klein, Cilka's Journey is the sequel to the internationally No.1 bestselling phenomenon, The Tattooist of Auschwitz
In 1942 Cilka Klein is just sixteen years old when she is taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, notices her long beautiful hair, and forces her separation from the other women prisoners. Cilka learns quickly that power, even unwillingly given, equals survival.
After liberation, Cilka is charged as a collaborator by the Russians and sent to a desolate, brutal prison camp in Siberia known as Vorkuta, inside the Arctic Circle.
Innocent, imprisoned once again, Cilka faces challenges both new and horribly familiar, each day a battle for survival. Cilka befriends a woman doctor, and learns to nurse the ill in the camp, struggling to care for them under unimaginable conditions. And when she tends to a man called Alexandr, Cilka finds that despite everything, there is room in her heart for love.
Cilka's Journey is a powerful testament to the triumph of the human will. It will move you to tears, but it will also leave you astonished and uplifted by one woman's fierce determination to survive, against all odds.
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. 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.
Discover more about the book and author
Learn more about the author on Heather’s website.
Listen to a sample of the audio book.
Watch this interview with the author.
Our Librarian’s Review
“Based on a true story, ‘Cilka’s Journey’ tells the story of Cilka Klein who was sent to Auschwitz – Birkenau Concentration Camp at just 16. Cilka survived because of her beauty that brought her to the attention of the German commanders, and her own determination.
When the camp is liberated, instead of being released, Cilka is tried by Russian investigators for collaborating with the enemy and sentenced to 15 years in a Siberian Prison Camp. Having survived unimaginable horrors, Cilka now finds herself in another hell.
The camp is a brutal, desperate place, where women are at the mercy of male inmates and subjected to regular physical and sexual abuse. Cilka again has to use her wits to survive. This time it is her linguistic ability and cleverness that allow her to work in the hospital and eventually train as a nurse.
At times this is a difficult read; the description of life in the camp, the conditions, the brutality as well as the constant presence of violence and death. There are also flashbacks to Cilka’s experiences in Auschwitz. However, this is also a book about friendship, love and hope. The friendship of the women, and their support for one another, the compassion of the female doctor who befriends Cilka, and at its heart the kindness and altruism of Cilka herself as she again survives against the odds.
I would recommend Cilka’s Journey to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, particularly that set in WW2, and although it is described as a sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz Cilka’s Journey stands alone as an excellent read.”