This book was published in Paris, by the RodnIk Publishing House in 1927. NikolAy KUlman, a literary critic wrote about this book in Revival, a Paris newspaper, the issue dated February 3, 1927:

The name of this collection is the name of the first story “Sunstroke”, which had been published by Bunin in “Contemporary notes”, a Paris magazine, one year before. BUnin wrote the “Sunstroke” in 1925. It should be noted that the year when BUnin wrote this story, coincided with the period when the writer was working on stories dedicated to the theme of love. This is one of the factors that explains the psychological depth of the work.

The plot of the story is quite simple. The lieutenant met a beautiful lady on the ship, whose name, like his name, remained unknown to the reader. They both seemed to be struck by a sunstroke; bright passionate feelings flared up between them. The traveler and his companion left the ship and headed for the city, and the next day she got on the steamer and went to visit her family. The young officer was all alone and after a while he realized that he could no longer live without that woman. At the end of the story he was sitting under the awning on the deck, and felt ten years older. True love, which, according to the writer, can come completely suddenly, gave him only a moment of happiness, for which he had to pay with suffering. This story is the forerunner of Bunin’s book ‘Dark alleys’. The novelty of the narration was marked in the emigrant press. ‘In literature I cannot remember if anybody had managed to describe the sunlight in a way to make you perceive it almost physically, only genius of Manet and impressionist artists could bring the same experience, ” the critic wrote. — it is the intensity of feelings, the saturation with light, happiness and pain of love, and its burning vitality, which makes this little story a miracle’. 

This collection also included the following stories by Bunin: ‘Ida’, ‘Mordovian sarafan’, ‘the Case of cornet Elagin’, ‘Terrible story’, ‘Notre-Dame de la Garde’, ‘Desecrated Savior’, ‘Burden’, ‘In the garden’, ‘Cicadas’, ‘Many of the waters’.