Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright who was born on May 15th 1891 and died of a kidney disease on March 10th 1940. Bulgakov is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita which is now recognised as one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.

Bulgakov first developed an interest in Russian and European literature, theatre and opera when he joined the First Kiev Gymnasium in 1901. After graduating from the Gymnasium in 1909, Bulgakov entered the Medical Faculty at St. Vladimir University to become a physician which he did at the Kiev Military Hospital. At the outbreak of World War I, Bulgakov volunteered with the Red Cross as a medical doctor and went sent to the front line where he sustained bad injuries. Bulgakov developed an addiction to morphine as an anesthetic over 1918 but managed to fight the habit and never injected morphine again after that year. In 1922, Bulgakov wrote a book ‘Morphine’, in which he chronicled the state he had been in during the time of his addiction. Perhaps you can purchase the book with your Littlewoods discount codes.