Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, the famous Russian writer, had many relatives, some of whom he immortalized in his works. Today we will tell you about his sister Varvara Afanasyevna Bulgakova, who became the main prototype of Elena Turbina-Talberg in the novel "The White Guard."

Varvara Afanasyevna was born on November 4, 1895, four years after her famous brother, and was raised under his supervision. From childhood, she showed creative abilities and great hopes. After graduating from gymnasium, she chose a musical education and studied in this field for three years. In 1917, Varvara married Captain Leonid Sergeyevich Karum, a hero of World War I. He was a Russian German and became the prototype of Sergey Ivanovich Talberg in "The White Guard."

After the wedding, the couple moved to Petrograd, where Varvara studied foreign languages, while Leonid Sergeyevich continued his military training. After the Bolsheviks came to power, it became unsafe in the former capital, and the couple returned to Kyiv, where the hetman Skoropadsky seized power. Before Petlyura's arrival, Leonid served at the hetman's headquarters, then, as a colonel, joined the Astrakhan army and later the White Army of General Denikin. After the evacuation of Wrangel's army, he remained in Crimea and then moved to Petrograd, where Varvara was already located. They frequently changed their place of residence; Leonid continued to serve, now for the Bolsheviks, while Varvara taught German.

In the last twenty years of Mikhail Afanasyevich's life, his sister met with him only a few times. Her husband was arrested three times, and the status of "wife of an enemy of the people" did not allow Varvara to live in large cities. She endured exiles and hardships, spending her last years in Novosibirsk, suffering from sclerosis. Ultimately, finding herself unwanted, she was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she died in 1956.