The Miserable Mill
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| Author | Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler) |
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| 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 |
Publication date | April 15, 2000 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 195 |
| ISBN | 0-06-440769-1 |
| Preceded by | The Wide Window |
| Followed by | The Austere Academy |
The Miserable Mill is the fourth novel of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It was to be released in paperback under the name The Miserable Mill; or, Hypnotism!, but the release was canceled for unknown reasons. In this novel, the Baudelaire orphans live with the owner of Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The book was published on April 15, 2000, by HarperCollins and illustrated by Brett Helquist.
Plot summary
The Miserable Mill begins with Sunny, Klaus and Violet Baudelaire traveling on a train heading for Paltryville, the location of the children's new home, the Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Upon arrival, the children learn that they will have to work at the mill, but as part of the deal, their new guardian, Sir (they call him Sir because his name was so long that nobody pronounces it right), will try to keep Count Olaf, their nemesis, away. They meet Sir's more sympathetic partner, Charles, who shows them the library, which contains three books, one about the history of the lumbermill, one about the town constitution, and one donated by Dr. Orwell, the local optometrist, who lives in the eye shaped building.
Klaus breaks his own glasses when he is purposely tripped by the new foreman, Flacutono, and is sent to see Dr. Orwell. When Klaus returns from the optometrist, hours later, he acts very strangely, as if in a trance. The next day in the lumbermill, Flacutono instructs Klaus to operate a stamping machine. Klaus causes an accident by dropping the machine on Phil, an optimistic coworker. Flacutono exclaims that the machine "cost an inordinate amount of money". The other workers ask what the unfamiliar word means and Klaus defines the word. Klaus explains that he doesn't remember what happened between when he broke his glasses and waking up in the mill. Foreman Flacutono trips him again, once again causing his glasses to break. This time though, Violet and Sunny accompany Klaus to Dr. Orwell's office.
Together, they arrive at the eye-shaped building they saw on their arrival to Lucky Smells. Dr. Orwell, seemingly friendly, lets them in, and tells Violet and Sunny to sit in the waiting room. Violet and Sunny wonder about this before realizing that Count Olaf is disguised as Shirley, a receptionist. She also learns that Klaus has been (and is being) hypnotized by Orwell, who is in cahoots with Olaf. They leave with Klaus, who is once again in a trance. When they return to the lumbermill, they find a memo from Sir informing them that if there is another accident, he'll place them under Shirley's care.
Violet and Sunny put Klaus to bed, and then go to the mill's library. Violet reads the book donated by Orwell and learns that Orwell's technique uses a command word to control the subject and an "unhypnotize" word. They then hear the lumbermill starting early, and rush to see what is happening. They find Charles strapped to a log which Klaus is pushing through a buzz saw, and Foreman Flacutono giving orders. The girls move to stop them but see Klaus' bare feet, a clue that he has been hypnotized out of bed yet again. Violet, after reading a book by Dr. Orwell, learns the command word ("lucky"), and orders Klaus to release Charles but Flacutono orders him to continue. Shirley and Orwell arrive and the latter orders Klaus to ignore his sisters. Violet works out, and says, the word with which Flacutono unhypnotized Klaus ("inordinate") just in time. Violet is caught by Shirley and Flacutono, but Klaus manages to set Charles free. Sunny and Orwell have a fight, with Orwell's sword and Sunny's teeth; as Mr. Poe and Sir unexpectedly enter the room, Orwell steps back in surprise, into the path of the buzz saw, and dies.
Count Olaf is locked in the library but escapes out the window with Foreman Flacutono, who is revealed to be the bald man with the long nose in disguise. Sir relinquishes the Baudelaires from his care.
Translations
- Brazilian Portuguese: "Serraria Baixo-Astral" (Bad Smell Lumbermill), Cia. das Letras, 2000, ISBN 85-359-0210-4
- Finnish: "Saiturin saha" (The Miser's Mill), WSOY, 2003, ISBN 951-0-28147-6
- French: "Cauchemar à la scierie" (Nightmare at the Sawmill)
- Greek: "Το Εργοστάσιο της Συμφοράς", Ελληνικά Γράμματα, ISBN 960-406-338-3
- Indonesian: "Gelondongan Gila", 2004, ISBN 979-22-0998-0
- Italian "La Sinistra Segheria"
- Japanese: "[残酷な材木工場] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: jp (help)" (The Cruel Lumber Mill), Soshisha, 2002, ISBN 4-7942-1154-6
- Korean: "수상한 제재소" (Suspicious Sawmill), Munhakdongnae Publishing Co, Ltd., 2003, ISBN 978-89-546-0837-4
- Norwegian "Den mystiske mølla" (The Mysterious Mill)
- Russian: "Зловещая лесопилка" (Sinister Sawmill), Azbuka, 2005, ISBN 5-352-00547-X
- Spanish: "El Aserradero Lúgubre" (The Lugubrious Mill)
- Swedish: "Det Sällsamma Sågverket" (The Strange Sawmill)
- Turkish : "Bitik Orman"
- Dutch : "De Helse Houtzagerij" (The Helish Sawmill)
See also
| A Series of Unfortunate Events |
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| All the Wrong Questions | |||||||||
| Other works | |||||||||
| Related | |||||||||
