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Review

Cilka's journey (Large Print)

20 January 2020
Written by: Heather Thomas
Review by: Dee Atkinson
Genre: General Fiction

By acclaimed Te Awamutu Author, Heather Morris.

This is Heather's follow up novel to the The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

Cilka is just 16 when she was taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1942.

With long beautiful hair Cilka stood out from the other women and was noticed by the commandant who separated her from the other women prisoners.

Following liberation in 1945 Cilka is sent to Siberia having been forced to sign charges of working with the enemy, prostitution and spying. In her mind she had no choice. Now in a Siberian prison camp, she faces more unwanted attention from a new set of guards. But she knows how to play the game.

Then the female doctor at the camp takes Cilka under her wing and Cilka starts caring for the ill and dying. She moves into other jobs involving nursing, but still faces daily struggles as all of the women do.

A story of survival, friendship and eventually love.

While this is a work of fiction it is based on the testimony of the tattooist of Auschwitz, Lale Sokolov about Celilia, Cilka, Klein and the testimony of others.

Beautifully and thoughtfully written. Author and factual notes at the end are a bonus.

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