The Wide Window
First edition cover
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| Author | Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler) |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Brett Helquist |
| Cover artist | Brett Helquist |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Series of Unfortunate Events |
| Genre |
Gothic fiction Absurdist fiction Steampunk Mystery |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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February 25, 2000 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 214 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 41355668 |
| Fic 21 | |
| LC Class | PZ7.S6795 Wi 2000 |
| Preceded by | The Reptile Room |
| Followed by | The Miserable Mill |
The Wide Window is the third in the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It was later released in paperback under the name The Wide Window; or, Disappearance! In The Wide Window, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with their third guardian, Aunt Josephine, who lives on a house overlooking Lake Lachrymose.
Shortly after the events of The Reptile Room, Mr. Poe puts the Baudelaire orphans, Klaus, Sunny and Violet under the care of Aunt Josephine, who lives in a house atop a hill overlooking Lake Lachrymose, a lake so large that hurricanes have occurred in that area. Aunt Josephine, despite being a good-hearted elder, lives an unusual lifestyle of having phobias of almost everything from cooking food to her welcome mat.
While helping Aunt Josephine with shopping in the grocery store, Violet literally runs into a sailor named "Captain Sham", who she concludes is secretly Count Olaf in disguise. Aunt Josephine declines to believe this due to Captain Sham's apparently charming personality. That night, the children hear a crash and find out that their new guardian had jumped out of the Wide Window that overlooks Lake Lachrymose, and that before doing so left a note for them informing them that Captain Sham will be their new guardian.
Despite relating their suspicions to Mr. Poe that the note was a forgery by Count Olaf, he again refuses to believe them, thus they are forced to have dinner with Mr. Poe and Count Olaf at a cheap and grimy restaurant called the Anxious Clown. Needing a distraction to come up with a strategy, Violet puts peppermints in her own food and that of Klaus and Sunny. Allergic, they break into hives, forcing Count Olaf to allow them to go back to their aunt's house. Klaus shows them how Aunt Josephine had written the note, due to the handwriting, but purposely made grammar mistakes to make a hidden message, which are the two words 'Curdled Cave'. Once they finish the note, Hurricane Herman hits and the house begins to fall apart into the sea. The Wide Window shatters and plunges into the lake. They retreat to the front of the house when that part of the house falls into the lake.
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Wikipedia