I could not wait to find out what happened to Cilka after reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz. There seems to be no end to the indignities and suffering Cilka Klein has endured. A Soviet soldier told her she was free after the Nazis had abandoned the prisoners they did not have time to kill. Imprisoned once more until she can be judged by specially trained Soviet personnel, she wonders if this cycle of cruelty will ever end. Once again she finds herself shuttled into a train car to be sent to Krakow to await her sentence for staying alive by being forced into prostitution while in Auschwitz. Her "champions" inflict the same kind of cruelty in their judgement of her crime and send her to Siberia. Again, she is herded onto a train to be shipped out after hours on the tracks before the car of women and children are transported with only a bucket of water and some bread to share on their journey. As the trip progresses, the car becomes less crowded as the passengers begin to die and the women begin to find those who speak their language among the remaining travelers. So begins the next part of the life of eighteen-year-old Cilka.