Step By Wicked Step

One stormy night, five stranded schoolchildren uncover the story of Richard Clayton Harwick – a boy who many years ago learned what it was like to have a truly wicked stepfather. But the children have stories of their own step-parents to tell – stories that have warmth and humour, as well as sadness, and a fair share of happy endings. ‘For children who have some similar experience, this novel will be therapeutic; for those who haven’t it’s an absorbing read, to make them laugh and cry’ Sunday Telegraph.

Richard Burdon, Viscount Haldane of Cloan, was a philosopher, lawyer, British MP, and member of the British cabinet during the First World War. He is best known to Canadians as a judge of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (Canada's highest court of appeal until 1949), in which role he was extremely influential in altering the constitutional relations between the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures. Chafing under the British North American Act of 1867, which provided for a strong central government, the provincial governments appealed to the judicial Committee and were successful in gaining greater provincial legislative autonomy through the constitutional interpretations of the law lords. In Viscount Haldane, Frederick Vaughan concentrates on Haldane's role in these rulings, arguing that his jurisprudence was shaped by his formal study of German philosophy, especially that of G.W.F. Hegel. Vaughan's analysis of Haldane's legal philosophy and its impact on the Canadian constitution concludes that his Hegelian legacy is very much alive in today's Supreme Court of Canada and that it continues to shape the constitution and the lives of Canadians since the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Strong language, explicit sexual situations, M/F. F/F. 18+ If anyone had asked ten years ago, I never would have imagined I'd be a thirty-five-year-old widow today. I could tell you I married Hartman Wick out of love, but it's complicated. We were friends. He was dying. And he needed me. He also made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Of course, I agreed with the very best of intentions. But we all know what the road to hell is paved with. All I ever dreamed of was owning my own gallery. A place where my best friend and I could introduce the masses to inspiring and new artists. Hartman promised me the deed to the gallery, wealth, and security for the rest of my life. Instead, I find myself in a war with his estranged son Kieran-my stepson and one of the most prolific painters, known for his erotic shock art. He's been plotting revenge against his father for years, and now that Daddy's dead, he's seized the opportunity. Between the constant battles, heated exchanges, and threats of blackmail, I find myself inexplicitly drawn to this twenty-four-year old. He's beautiful, seductive, arrogant, and evil. Not only is he a gifted artist, but he's certainly inherited some of his father's more unsavory traits. He truly is a Wick. But then he takes things too far and pushes me to my breaking point. I've had enough. In retaliation, I make a plan. And I almost feel sorry for him-almost. I'm sure, even as a child, he was never read a single fairy tale. Poor bastard. He has no idea how truly wicked a stepmother can be.

An honest and groundbreaking guide to understanding the complicated emotions that develop between stepmothers and children. When faced with often overwhelming challenges, what woman with stepchildren is unfamiliar with that “stepmonster” feeling? Half of all women in the United States will live with or marry a man with children. To guide women new to this role—and empower those who are struggling with it—Wednesday Martin draws upon her own experience as a stepmother. She's frank about the harrowing process of becoming a stepmother, she considers the myths and realities of being married to a man with children, and she counteracts the cultural notion that stepmothers are solely responsible for the problems that often develop. Along the way, she interviews other stepmothers and stepchildren and offers up fascinating insights from literature, anthropology, psychology, and evolutionary biology that explain the little-understood realities of this unique parent-child relationship and—in an unexpected twist—shows why the myth of the Wicked Stepmother is the single best tool for understanding who real stepmothers are and how they feel.

Five children gather around a mysterious diary and share an evening of stories about their lives and trials, discovering common bonds in adversity.

When his father remarries, seven-year-old Tom has trouble accepting his new stepmother.

1. Character -- 2. Setting -- 3. Plot -- 4. Expanding the reading and wrting experience.