WANTED : ONE WILDLY WICKED WITCH TO WED. Arriman the Awful , the handsome wizard of the North , has decided to marry. But which witches will it be ? Arriman devises a contest : whoever performs the darkest piece of magic will become his bride. Belladonna , the smallest of the coven , wants desperately to win , but she has one problem : she 's a good witch. Her spells conjure up begonias and baby birds , not a single nest of vipers or bloodshot eyeballs. But Belladonna is in love , and she's determined to do something sinister in time for the contest... From the legendary writer EVA IBBOTSON Author of the secret of platform 13