The Master and Margarita

One spring afternoon, the Devil, trailing fire and chaos in his wake, weaves himself out of the shadows and into Moscow in Bulgakov's fantastical, funny and frightening satire on Soviet life. Brimming with magic and incident, it is full of imaginary, historical, terrifying and wonderful characters, from witches, poets and Biblical tyrants to the beautiful Margarita, who will do anything to save the imprisoned writer she loves. Written in secret during the darkest days of Stalin's reign, when The Master and Margarita was finally published it became an overnight literary phenomenon, signalling artistic freedom for Russians everywhere.

Cover photograph by Matt Dawson, winner of the Guardian and Penguin Modern Classics photography competition 2003. (back cover)