Sbornik sostavili ocharovatelnye literaturnye skazki Sharlya Node, frantsuzskogo bibliofila, publitsista i pisatelya, izvestnogo svoim vkladom v stanovlenie romanticheskogo stilya v klassicheskoy frantsuzskoy literature. V proizvedeniyah Node bezuderzhnaya fantaziya sochetaetsya s sotsialnoy kritikoy, a sentimentalnye rassuzhdeniya sosedstvuyut s ostrymi, pochti yazvitelnymi opisaniyami realiy nachala XIX veka. Prichudlivye personazhi napominayut o mire Ernsta T. A. Gofmana, a syuzhety variruyutsya ot mrachnyh istoriy o privideniyah do shalovlivyh fantasmagoriy. Bogatyy literaturnyy yazyk, zamechatelno peredannyy proslavlennymi perevodchikami, delaet novelly Node voshititelnym chteniem, schedro sdobrennym avtorskim obayaniem i pripravlennym osobym frantsuzskim sharmom.
