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“The unacknowledged legislators of the world”, remarked W.H. Auden, in a rebuke to Percy Bysshe Shelley’s romanticism, “describes the secret police, not the poets.” Auden was humble about the power of art to solve the world’s problems; he was also lucky, and aware...

— Glasgow Review of Books, Jun 12 2017

This richly imagined retelling of those lean years—which gave rise to his phantasmagoric novel “The Master and Margarita”—mixes fact and fiction to create a narrative that is both foreign and familiar.

— The New Yorker, May 16 2017

Today, we hear from debut novelist Julie Lekstrom Himes, on Mikhail and Margarita, her fictionalized account of Russian novelist Mikhail Bulgakov’s inspiration for The Master and Margarita that examines in on the systemic forces working against artists and intellectuals in...

— Flavorwire, Apr 25 2017

Where Himes excels is in capturing the atmosphere of fear and suspicion that must have been common whilst living in Soviet times; the uncertainty of everyday life

— Shiny New Books, Apr 20 2017

It is 1933 and Mikhail Bulgakov's enviable career is on the brink. His friend and mentor, poet Osip Mandelstam, has been arrested, tortured and exiled. Meanwhile, a mysterious agent of the secret police has developed an obsession with exposing Bulgakov as an enemy of the state.

— The Morning Call, Apr 8 2017

It is 1933 and Mikhail Bulgakov's enviable career is on the brink of being dismantled. His friend and mentor, the poet Osip Mandelstam, has been arrested, tortured, and sent into exile. Meanwhile, a mysterious agent of the secret police has developed a growing obsession with...

— Independent Publisher, Apr 3 2017

In 1933, Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov bangs up against intensifying censorship and is pursued by the secret police even as he falls for brashly beautiful Margarita, who inspires his celebrated The Master and Margarita. “A whirlwind tale of romance and intrigue that approximates,...

— Library Journal, Apr 2 2017

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: "The Master And Margarita" is one of the most popular novels in Russia - even today. It was written during the 1930s by author and physician Mikhail Bulgakov, though, for many years, Stalin's police state prevented its publication. Now Julie...

— NPR, Mar 22 2017

It’s an incredibly important read in an era of uncertainty and populism across the globe, but it’s also entertainment in its purest form.

— Newsweek, Mar 13 2017

This book is a timely gem. Since the promise of “the gulag” seems to be in the future of many, this is a must read. Bulgakov, Mandelstam, women’s rights, oppression, love, and artistic suppression provide a backbone from which this wonderful debut takes shape. Read it,...

— Literary Hub, Mar 7 2017

Publisher’s Weekly described this as a “confident, carefully crafted” debut, and so it is. It looks at the affairs, both romantic and political, of writers in Stalinist Russia, looking at the intertwined lives of poet Osip Mandelstam and satirist Mikhail Bulgakov, as well...

— Flavorwire, Mar 1 2017

Himes’ writing is taut, detailed and well-researched. I would highly recommend “Mikhail and Margarita” for the newness of plot, the writing and the way the book will make you think.

— The Hungry Reader, Feb 20 2017

This novel offers two profiles in courage: a satirist struggling under a dictator who has no use for satire, and the woman Himes imagines inspired the iconic novel about the survival of love and literature under bureaucratic tyranny.

— Publisher's Weekly, Jan 30 2017

A literary love triangle set against Stalinist repression and the long shadows of purge-era Moscow? Starring Mikhail Bulgakov and Osip Mandelstam? Oh god yes please.

— LitHub, Jan 12 2017

Both an homage to Mihail Bulgakov's classic The Master and Margarita and a tale of love, betrayal and censorship. Moscow, 1933, and an agent of Stalin's secret police is obsessed with exposing Bulgakov as an enemy of the state.

— The Bookseller, Dec 5 2016