The Witch's Tears

From its opening lines - 'It was an icy day. The wind was cold enough to freeze your breath and dark clouds tore across the sky like ragged horses.' - Jenny Nimmo's story gently but firmly holds you in its grip as brother and sister, Theo and Dodie, await their father's return from a business trip. The whole drama unfolds in just 24 hours - or does it? All the clocks have mysteriously stopped ticking since Mrs Scarum's arrival. But is she, or is she not, a witch? That's what Theo and Dodie can't quite agree on. So why does she call telegraph wires 'dangerous things', why does she want to keep the children's cat, Flora, beside her overnight? And where is Flora next morning? And what about those icy crystal tears that rattle onto the floor when their visitor cries? . . . Like the children in this splendid tale, readers and listeners will have to make up their own minds.