On the 3^rd of May, 1891 on the Vozdvizhenska, 28 Street in Kyiv was born a child, fated to become one of the most mysterious writers in the world. The name of this child was Mikhail Bulgakov. His childhood was ordinary, he attended gymnasium, gained good marks and in 1909 entered Kyiv University of St.Volodymir, the Medical faculty. In 1914 the war broke out and in 1915 during the draft Bulgakov decided to join the army as military doctor to fight for lives of injured. He passed his exams and graduated from university in 1916.

Bulgakov started writing in his student years and a vast amount of his writings was connected with medicine. But after he had been mobilized, he also started to describe the horrors of war he had seen with his own eyes. His works are considerably autobiographical, in any book we can find something took out of his own experience.

A novel “The White Guards”, that describes the civil war and its influence on certain family, became fateful for the writer. Then Bulgakov created a play “The Days of Turbiny” based on the novel. The play had a great success and was shown 987 times. Then he had written two more satirical plays describing life in Soviet Union and these brought about disapproval of official critics. Bulgakov suffered the consequences of his carelessness: all his plays were prohibited. In March, 1930 he appealed to Stalin and Soviet authorities to let him earn for a living in theatre or to let him leave Soviet Union. A month later Stalin called him with positive answer, but this didn`t cause any changes. He had got the position of assistant in the theatre, but publishing offices refused to publish his works.

In this period Bulgakov was working on his fundamental work he had started on 1929. He described it as a “novel about devil”. The latter complete edition was created in 1934 and got the title “The Master and Margaret” in 1937. At that time Bulgakov had been fatally ill and had lost the battle against death in a month after the novel was finished in 1940. Unfortunately, he didn`t enjoy the fruits of his hard work, because the novel was allowed for publishing only in 1967.

Bulgakov had won the respect among readers from all over the world, his novels, plays and stories attract attention, the phrases from his works are quoted and known. He stays alive in millions of issues of his books, in screen versions of his works, in visitors of his museums, in people, inspired by his oeuvre and I honestly think that it is the most crowning and remarkable achievement that any writer could ever wish.

Dear Victoria!

First of all I want to express my gratefulness for all your pieces of advice! I had soaked all the information up and it helped me to go through my long trip without any unpleasant surprises, to take my time and do all the right choices.

Before I set out I had made a new passport. I send you a copy of it.

It turned out that I couldn`t take all my belongings with me and it was a real disappointment to face the necessity to rough it. So I decided to take some clothes, my favorite toy and a family photo to retain memories of our previous life. As you had told me, I kept my things close to me not to lose them. The appearance of the ship impressed me a lot: I had never seen it before. I stood on the deck for two or three hours in advance of our arrival. I was so tired that managed to fall asleep even on the bunk in our cabin!

When we arrived, I passed all inspection without any problems (of course, due to your help). As everyone has to do his bit, I help my parents and work at home. I want to try selling newspapers too. It would be great to have some money to laze around and visit Nickelodeon once or twice a week! I also have my own responsibilities: to sweep and mop. But it is a bit difficult, I get tired a lot and sleep like a log on my bed made of crates (great idea, thank you!). Life here makes a change. For example, our flat is very small for our family (though, it is not as big as yours). Despite the fact that we live at peace with each other, sometimes a desire to get away from it all appears.

New York is like another, diverse world. There are a lot of people all over the place, there are representatives of different nations and ethnic groups but there is no hostility and misunderstanding at all. Even though the life here is promising to be better, I feel nostalgia and sadness for my native land, me Italy.

What about you? Did you miss your Motherland? How are you? Are there any news?

Sincere yours, Rosalia Gallo

P.S. Of course, I had a culture shock, when arrived here: so many interesting things, dishes, traditions! But we also keep our traditions and cook our Italian pasta and coffee!