''The Beatrice Letters'' is a book by

Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970). Handler has published several children's books under the name, most notably ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which has sold over 60 million copies and s ...

. It is a tangential

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

to the children's book series ''

A Series of Unfortunate Events ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' is a series of thirteen children's novels written by American author Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The books follow the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. After their p ...

'', and was published shortly before the thirteenth and final installment. According to its cover, the book is "suspiciously linked to Book the Thirteenth", although the British edition merely states that it "contains a clue to Book the Thirteenth". The book consists of thirteen

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

, six from Beatrice Baudelaire II to Lemony Snicket, six from Lemony Snicket to Beatrice Baudelaire, and one from Lemony Snicket to his editor (one of these appears in every book in the main series, but this is the first time such a letter has been incorporated into the plot). However, the two Beatrices, despite sharing a name, are clearly separate individuals, and while Lemony Snicket's letters are plainly written beginning from his childhood and ending shortly before

Violet Baudelaire The children's novel series '' A Series of Unfortunate Events'' and its film and television adaptations features a large cast of characters created by Daniel Handler under the pen name of Lemony Snicket. The original series follows the turbul ...

is born, the Beatrice writing to Snicket is apparently writing after the events of ''

The End The End may refer to: Films * ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1997 film), a Canadian film of 1997 * ''The End'' (1998 film), a skateboarding document ...

''. The older Beatrice is the one referred to throughout ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' by Lemony Snicket as his deceased love, and her identity as the mother of the Baudelaire children from the series is revealed in ''The Beatrice Letters'', but the younger Beatrice's identity is not directly explained, apart from the statement that she also has some connection to Violet,

Klaus Klaus is a German, Dutch and Scandinavian given name and surname. It originated as a short form of Nikolaus, a German form of the Greek given name Nicholas. Notable persons whose family name is Klaus * Billy Klaus (1928–2006), American baseba ...

, and Sunny (although in ''The End'' it is revealed that she is the daughter of

Kit Snicket The children's literature, children's novel series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' and its Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, film and A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV series), television adaptations features a large cast of ch ...

). Kit's daughter later ends up being raised by the Baudelaire orphans. The book contains twelve punch-out letters (of the alphabet, as opposed to correspondence, although the ambiguity is intentional), and each is mentioned in different, interesting ways. An example is that the first letter is an E, juxtaposed against a card from Snicket to Beatrice, in which a map Snicket had drawn forms an E. The cardstock letters can appear to be anagrams of 'Beatrice Sank', Beatrice being the boat in the book ''The End'' and 'A Snicket Brae', as it has been said that Lemony Snicket lived in the hills for some time. The book also includes a poster of what appears to be the wreckage of 'The Beatrice', along with a cave, Klaus's glasses, Violet's hair ribbon, and Sunny's cookbooks. Kidsreads.com praised ''The Beatrice Letters'', claiming "Snicket incorporates what could, surprisingly, be one of the most touching and heartfelt (if absurd) love letters ever written... theightens the stakes, and the anticipation, for Snicket's eagerly awaited Book the Thirteenth." Over 350,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatrice Letters American fantasy novels 2006 American novels Epistolary novels Books in A Series of Unfortunate Events HarperCollins books 2006 children's books

See also

References