Lemony Snicket’s The Bad Beginning is the first book in the globally bestselling series A Series of Unfortunate Events. This exclusive gold foiled 20th anniversary hardback gift edition commemorates the miserable fact that every child in the world has wanted this brilliantly funny book for twenty years.

Perfect for fans of Roald Dahl and Mr Gum, young readers of 9 to 11 will adore the mischievously dark humour. Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ has been made into a blockbuster Hollywood film starring Jim Carrey and is also a hit Netflix TV series. Now with new anniversary blurb by the mysterious author himself.

Dear Reader,

For the past twenty years, my books have been upsetting the countless readers who have been foolish enough to begin to read them. The three Baudelaire siblings and their lives of misery and woe have now been responsible for more than two decades of weeping. From the very first page of this book, when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, to the last page, when something goes wrong at the worst possible moment, disaster strikes Violet, Klaus and Sunny wherever they go.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

I have spent the last twenty years writing down these unpleasant details so that they might be available to the general public, but there is nothing stopping the general public, or you, from putting this book down at once and reading something less upsetting, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket

Are you unlucky enough to own all 13 adventures?

The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village
The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
The Slippery Slope
The Grim Grotto
The Penultimate Peril
The End

And what about All the Wrong Questions? In this four-book series a 13-year-old Lemony chronicles his dangerous and puzzling apprenticeship in a mysterious organisation that nobody knows anything about:

‘Who Could That Be at This Hour?’
‘When Did you Last See Her?’
‘Shouldn’t You Be in School?’
‘Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?’