This book should have been called “The Book of Unexpected Discoveries.” You are reading a story that, in terms of its artistic merits, could well have belonged to the pen of Chekhov, Turgenev or Tolstoy, and suddenly you realize with surprise that the name of its author is completely unfamiliar to you... Such is the fate of talented Russian writers - emigrants who published their works “in Foreigners”, as one of them indicated the place of publication of his books. The book also includes short stories by such eminent writers as Alexey Remizov, Ivan Shmelev, Evgeny Zamyatin, Fyodor Stepun, Nadezhda Teffi. But they have only just begun to be published in Russia, and so far few people are really familiar with their works, especially with short stories.