A novel about the chaos of the Civil War, where the only refuge is a family home with a tiled stove. From the experience of life in Kyiv, besieged by Petliura, Bulgakov creates a story of eternal conflicts - old and new, honor and cowardice. Literally three weeks after the publication of "The White Guard" in the magazine "Russia", Bulgakov began working on a play on the same plot. After a period of numerous revisions and political behind-the-scenes battles, the play, called "The Days of the Turbins", was staged at the Moscow Art Theater, where it was shown intermittently until June 1941 - about a thousand performances in total.