HISTORICAL

CILKA’S JOURNEY by Heather Morris (Zaffre €15.99, 448 pp)

THE author’s previous novel, The Tattooist Of Auschwitz, cleverly fused an appalling true story with a fictional structure. Cilka’s Journey does the same.

At Auschwitz, the beautiful Cilka was noticed by the Commandant and given special status. After liberation, she is charged as a collaborator and sent by the Russians to a Siberian prison camp.

Surviving the gulags requires unimaginable determination and courage. Helped by a Russian doctor, Cilka nurses the sick and smuggles food to the other prisoners.

However, the question of her so-called ‘cooperation’ with the Nazis hangs over her head. If it were known, would she survive the fury of the inmates?

The novel is based on the testimony of Lale Sokolov, the Auschwitz tattooist, who called Cilka ‘the bravest person I ever met’.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE LOST by Caroline Scott (S&S €14.50, 512 pp)

THE chaos and misery of a war’s aftermath can be as destructive as the conflict itself. In 1921, Harry Blythe and his widowed sister-in-law, Edie, travel from their homes in Britain to a still-ravaged and pulverised France.

Desperate to find closure, grieving relatives have commissioned Harry to photograph war graves. Edie has been sent a mysterious photograph which suggests that Francis, her husband and Harry’s brother, might still be alive.

The pain of not knowing where a son, brother or husband lies, and the guilt and psychological dissonance that torment survivors, are movingly conveyed in this terrific first novel.

With flashbacks to the fighting, a picture slowly emerges of the physical and emotional pilgrimage Edie and Harry go on in their struggle to find the strength to face normal life — and to love again.

THE HUNTRESS by Kate Quinn (HarperCollins €12.59, 560 pp)

DURING World War II, at Lake Rusalka, Poland, a woman shoots six people who escaped the Nazis in cold blood. Similar murders follow but, when the war ends, the murderer, known as The Huntress, vanishes.

In post-war Boston, aspiring photographer Jordan McBride has a new German stepmother — an elegant but mysterious woman. Gradually, it dawns on Jordan that questions should be asked.

Meanwhile, Nazi-hunters, including former war correspondent Ian Graham and Nina, one of the notorious Night Witches, an allfemale Russian bomber regiment — have pooled their talents. Jordan joins them to help track down the infamous Huntress. I particularly liked Nina, who is a force to be reckoned with in this action-packed read.