Life for Honesty and his sisters Mercy and Patience is not a bundle of laughs. His family are strict Puritans and singing, dancing and anything that sounds like fun is forbidden. Life, Honesty thinks, can't get much worse when Christmas is cancelled by order of the government.

But he is wrong — the real problem is Gran who has one tooth, a hooked nose, a very hairy chin and a pet toad called Merlin. Honesty suspects she may be a witch, especially since she's been helping the neighbours with love potions and cures for sick pigs. When the WitchFinder General — Ezekial Bones visits the village, Honesty is convinced his family's terrible secret will be discovered. Can he save Gran from the terrible Three Tests for Witches (eg pond ducking — if she swims she's a witch, if she drowns she's innocent.) For a boy who has never told a lie in his whole life — it's asking a lot.

Alan MacDonald