num_pages: 201
description: Frank Pirie owes ten pence bet to bully Buster, broke a chair with sister Jesse aka Jessica, so their pocket money is stopped till summer, but vacation has already started. Father took down front gate notice "Errands run", disallowing "immoral earnings". They tack sign "Own Back Ltd. Revenge Arranged. Price according to task" to door of potting shed along well-trodden allotment side-path, out of view. First customer, Buster, the most loud and vile mouth of his gang, lost a tooth to "curried-tonsil scum" taller older paperboy Vernon Wilkins, will forego debt for "one of Wilkin's pineapple-puking teeth". The train of interdependent clients gets complicated, all leading back to vicious powerful local witch Biddy Iremonger. The children co-operate to get back their enslaved parents, jewel necklaces, health, and survive. Trapped in the smelly swamp hut, their only hope is the black cat familiar, equally beaten down.
language: English
title: Witch's Business
titlecomplete: Witch's Business
genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Magic, Young Adult Fantasy, Young Adult, Childrens, Witches, Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy
ratings_count: 1322
publisher: Greenwillow Books