Mr. Watkins-Pitchford penned this one back in ’74 and it seems a long, long time ago now. Re-reading the Black Witch took me back across the years – even then it had the feel of something written in a previous time. The prose has a wistful quality to it as if the author was writing of something he had lost and tells the tale of a young lad who is taught to fish (fly fish, remember we don’t get sent any coarse fishing books for review) by ‘Rees the Post’. Rees, clearly a man with an interesting past, given that his mastery of cleeking fish with a gaff, introduces young Timothy to the art of sea-trout fishing and after many adventures the story culminates with… Well you had better read that yourself. Nicely presented and a must for all BB fans, but if you don't appreciate reading everything in sepia, BB wrote better stuff earlier on.

Copies are widely available at reasonable prices and there was a fairly recent reprint by the Little Egret Press, although that too, seems to be out of print.