Maupassant je majstor kratke forme i vrstan pripovjedač koji je umio iz anegdote izažeti dramu, iz zgode tragediju, i to na način toliko nenametljiv da je odisao čudesnim parfemom slučajnosti i genijalnosti.
Zbirka sadrži slijedeće novele: Na vodi, Menuet, Pletenica, Horla, Ljubavni sastanak, Svršilo se, Dragulji, Dunda, Mala Roque, Sin, Luka, Novogodišnji dar i Naša pisma.
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless dénouement. He also wrote six short novels. A number of his stories often denote the futility of war and the innocent civilians who get crushed in it - many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s.