The Master and Margarita is one of the most celebrated novels by Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov, written between 1928 and 1940 but only published posthumously in 1967 due to its controversial themes. This surreal and multi-layered masterpiece is a satirical exploration of good and evil, love, and the power of art, set against the backdrop of Stalinist Moscow.

One hot spring, the devil arrives in Moscow, accompanied by a retinue that includes a beautiful naked witch and an immense talking black cat with a fondness for chess and vodka. The visitors quickly wreak havoc in a city that refuses to believe in either God or Satan. But they also bring peace to two unhappy Muscovites: one is the Master, a writer pilloried for daring to write a novel about Christ and Pontius Pilate; the other is Margarita, who loves the Master so deeply that she is willing literally to go to hell for him. What ensues is a novel of inexhaustible energy, humor, and philosophical depth, a work whose nuances emerge for the first time in Diana Burgin's and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor's splendid English version.