Cilka's Journey
Description
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.Show more
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Community Reviews
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...read more
Excellent, gripping work of fiction
While this work was more fiction than its predecessor, I found the story and the way it was told to be equally compelling. Truly a heartbreaking reminder of the past.
While this work was more fiction than its predecessor, I found the story and the way it was told to be equally compelling. Truly a heartbreaking reminder of the past.
A follow on from the Tattoosit of Autchwitz, we follow Colka to the Russian Gulags. Another harrowing tale, insightful in that it gives you a glimpse of the humanity of SOME people and the brutality of others. As with all the books surrounding the German/russian camps , hard to read but Heather Morris once again has you feeling as if you are in that prison with Cilka watching her life unfold.
Very good read.
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