A little night magic: less well known than its sequel, The Box of Delights, and understandably, if not deservedly so, for this is less an action adventure story and more a series of vignettes. But what episodes they are, weaving fantasy, magic and intrigue and you’ll be rooting for little Kay, a plucky chap, against his mean-spirited and unpleasant keepers. The animal helpers are splendid fellows, particularly Rollicum the Fox, and there’s a curiously muted intro for characters such as Maria and Caroline Louisa, who play such an important role in the next story. Ironically given how the latter ends, this is more of an impressionistic book for the most part, with dream sequences interleaved with the more mundane challenges of Kay’s daytime life - declining French verbs and a divinity lesson (“easy, because it was about Noah’s Ark”) - before it dog legs into an action-packed finale. And from the description of the witch’s boudoir, JM should be entitled to claim royalties or at least credit from JKR. A subtle, disturbing, important work.