Jessica Haggerthwaite - witch dispatcher - Emma Barnes

'Guess what!' demanded Mrs Haggerthwaite, bursting in through the kitchen door. 'I have the most amazing news. I'm going to be a professional witch! Mellandra Haggerthwaite, Professional Witch! Doesn't that sound good?'
There was a long, long silence.'

Jessica Haggerthwaite and her brother Midge are not impressed by what they see as one of their mother's latest hare-brained schemes. But at least it won't happen thinks Jessica. Until, to Jessica, Midge and their dad's horror - it does and Mellandra Haggerthwaite sets herself up as a professional witch dispensing spells from love potions to corn cures. Jessica is horrified. She is a scientist, planning to win the Nobel Prize and cannot believe her mother is embarrassing the family in this way. So she in turn sets herself up as 'Jessica Haggerthwaite - Witch Dispatcher' and tries to thwart her mother at every turn. But Jessica's plans go horribly wrong. Her father leaves home and it looks as though their whole family is going to fall apart…

A brilliantly clever book that within the humour examines how the actions of each member of the family really do have an effect on the others. It also examines how much children worry that every argument their parents have means they are about to split up.