When Joseph Binks is sent to stay with his mother, stepfather and half-sister Esme for Christmas, he is not at all happy. He would have preferred to have spent the time with his father, but his father has been called away to Scotland to attend to a family emergency. And so Christmas does not turn out quite as Joe anticipated...finding himself at the centre of a plot to rid Great Britain of witches, Joe encounters an unlikely witch's coven, their (not always efficient) spells, and a lovely new friend called Twiggy. With the help of his new friends and the brave Esme, Joe is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. With many brilliant interwoven clues and plot lines, this sparkling novel reaches an exciting and very surprising conclusion. Writing with great confidence, Anna Dale is a remarkable new talent in the world of children's books.