Armonía Somers, born in 1914 in the city of Pando (Uruguay) under the poetic name of Armonía Liropeya Etchepare Locino, was one of the most outstanding narrators of a generation of Latin American writers that stood out during the first half of the last century.

In 1950 he decided to adopt his nom de plume to publish the erotic novel La mujer desnuda, a literary debut not without controversy, and that would be the first of the five that would see the light. In 1953, the publication of his first book of short stories, El derrumbamiento, earned him adverse comments from local critics such as Mario Benedetti (who several years later changed his mind about it). The rest of his stories are gathered in this edition.

In 1986 he received the annual Prize for Literature awarded by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay. He died in Montevideo in 1994.