There is nothing to be found in the pages of A Series of Unfortunate Events but misery and despair.

You still have time to choose another international best-seller to read.

But if you must know what unpleasantries befall the charming and clever Baudelaire children read on . . . In The Wide Window we encounter a story that includes a hurricane, a signalling device, hungry leaches, cold cucumber soup, a horrible villain and a doll named Pretty Penny. With 5 million copies sold in the UK alone, one might consider Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events to make him one of the most successful children's authors of the past decade.

We, however, consider these miserable so-called adventure stories and the Hollywood film starring Jim Carrey that accompanied the books for children as nothing more than a dreadful mistake.