These nine stories demonstrate the mind of a novelist, the raw materials that fed Bulgakov s later fiction. Mijail Bulgakov graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Kiev, specializing in infectious diseases. He was sent to work in the rural deserts of Russia, a place that still lacked innovations such as the automobile, telephones, and electricity. For a period of time he dedicated himself to treating those who lived in the village of Nikoskoye, 200 miles west of Moscow. These tales, based on true stories, tell the story of a young, inexperienced doctor that arrives in a remote village where he has to extract teeth, deliver babies, and heal diseases."