The White Guard: Introduction by Orlando Figes

Bulgakov's brilliant novel, first published in 1925, portrays his beloved city of Kiev as it is torn apart during a few crucial weeks in 1918, seen through the eyes of a family fleeing the Russian revolution.

With cinematic vividness, Bulgakov puts us on the streets of a gracious, historic city as it is successively besieged by invading Germans, Ukrainian nationalists, the Red Guard of the Bolsheviks, and the White Guard loyal to the recently executed tsar. The Turbin siblings, once wealthy ...