Ever since their parents died in a fire, the lives of Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire have been nothing but misery. With the evil Count Olaf and his bunch of misfits on their tail, after their family fortune, they have nothing to do but keep moving from one guardian to the next, but Count Olaf always catches up. Mr Poe, the man in charge of the Baudelaire estate, is (pardon the expression) a complete nitwit. Though the Baudelaires always recognise Count Olaf when he turns up, it seems that no one else does until the very end, and by then it is too late, the villain has managed to escape.

In the fifth book, The Austere Academy, the orphans finally make two friends, triplets Isadora and Duncan Quagmire. They find out that their brother Quigley (the third triplet) and their parents were also killed in a fire, and they plan to help each other out along the road. However, the friends are separated when Count Olaf gets wind of the Quagmire fortune, and kidnaps Isadora and Duncan so he can find their fortune and take it as well as the Baudelaires'.

They are reunited for a brief time, but are then separated again when the two triplets are whisked away in a hot air balloon. Violet Klaus and Sunny think they will never hear from their friends again until, in the tenth book, the Slippery Slope, they finally meet up with Quigley, who did not actually die in the fire as everyone had thought.

The thing about Lemony Snicket's books, is that all though they are morbid and you feel sorry for the orphans the entire time you are reading, Snicket's style of writing is incredibly funny, and you tend to laugh at their misfortunes anyway. I'd warn you though, they are very depressing, and not for those who like a happy ending!