Lemony Snicket has dedicated every book in his best-selling A Series of Unfortunate Events to one mysterious person: Beatrice. No one invites as many questions from the series’ millions of fans. Who was she? What happened to her? And what was her relationship to the Baudelaire orphans, whose story Lemony Snicket has chronicled so faithfully?
Now, on the eve of the publication of The End, the thirteenth and final installment in his groundbreaking series, those questions and others may finally be answered when Lemony Snicket unseals The Beatrice Letters for all the world to read on Tuesday, September 5, 2006. It is the treasure trove of evidence, insight, and memorabilia millions have been crying for.
The Beatrice Letters is an exquisite collection of correspondence between Snicket and Beatrice herself. Its printed and handwritten contents include a note passed in class, calling cards, a coded sonnet, a desperate plea for help, and an alarming telegram. In addition to providing important clues to Book the Thirteenth: The End, which will be released on October 13, 2006, it allegedly answers such questions as “What was Count Olaf like as a boy?” and “What are the ingredients in a really good root beer float?”
Packaged in a collectible, hardcover bound portfolio, The Beatrice Letters is elegantly designed, featuring art by series illustrator Brett Helquist, photographs of mysterious artifacts, a clue-laden double-sided poster, and letters of the alphabet that can be punched out and arranged to spell at least two secret messages.
According to Lemony Snicket, “This book is top secret and only intended for those readers deeply interested in the Baudelaire case. How I pity those readers.”
Lemony Snicket’s books, which feature illustrations by Brett Helquist, have inexplicably spent more than 700 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and sold over 50 million copies worldwide. In December 2004, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, and Nickelodeon Movies released a major motion picture based on the first three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events, starring Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep. It was a dismal success, grossing more than $100 million in a matter of weeks.
A Series of Unfortunate Events has shocked and engrossed millions of readers worldwide since the release of the first book in 1999. Each of the books in the series - including 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 and Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography - has been a national bestseller.
Literary and irreverent, hilarious and deftly crafted, A Series of Unfortunate Events offers an exquisitely dark comedy in the tradition of Edward Gorey and Roald Dahl. Lemony Snicket’s uproariously unhappy books continue to win readers everywhere, despite the author’s continued warnings.
Lemony Snicket has been chronicling the lives of the Baudelaire children with only occasional breaks for food, rest and court-appointed swordfights. His hobbies include nervous apprehension, increasing dread, and wondering if his enemies were right after all.
Brett Helquist was born in Ganado, AZ, grew up in Orem, UT, and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. He earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Brigham Young University and has been illustrating ever since. Sometimes he finds his work depicting the upsetting lives of the Baudelaire orphans so distressing that he sends himself flowers, but it never helps.