"The
Baudelaire orphans looked out the grimy window of the train and gazed at the gloomy blackness of the
Finite Forest, wondering if their lives would ever get better," begins
The Miserable Mill. If you have been introduced to the three Baudelaire orphans in any of
Lemony Snicket's previous novels, you know that not only will their lives not get better, they will get much worse. In the fourth installment in the "
Series of Unfortunate Events," the sorrowful siblings, having once again narrowly escaped the clutches of the evil
Count Olaf, are escorted by the kindly but ineffectual
Mr. Poe to their newest "home" at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. Much to their horror (if not surprise), their dormitory at the mill is crowded and damp, they are forced to work with spinning saw blades, they are fed only one meal a day (not counting the chewing gum they get for lunch), and worst of all, Count Olaf lurks in a dreadful disguise as Shirley the receptionist just down the street.