The perfect wife. A fairytale family. Don’t believe your eyes… Jeanie and Matthew are a happily married couple who both have teenage children from previous relationships. No one said it would be easy to raise a blended family under one roof but Jeanie and Matthew are strong. They will make it work. And whilst Jeanie’s step-daughter Scarlett rejects her, Jeanie will just have to try harder to win her over. But Jeanie has a past. A terrible secret she thought she’d buried a long time ago. And now, it’s coming to the surface, threatening to destroy her new marriage. Someone is playing a terrifying game on Jeanie and she must put a stop to it once and for all. After all, a fairytale needs a happy ending…doesn’t it. A compelling, dark and twisty psychological thriller that will grip fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and The Teacher. Readers are raving about The Stepmother: ‘It was so good I have been hiding in the toilet at work reading this on my phone as I needed to find out what happened!!…Dark and super twisty. A real page turner and I loved it.’ Consumer Reviewer ‘Loved it !!! My god the journey I went on while reading this…From beginning to end I was so hooked on this… Beyond 5 stars.’ (5 stars) Itsy Bitsy Book Bits ‘I don't believe many will be able to put this brilliant novel aside…really hooks you in on every level.’ (5 stars) Booklover Catlady ‘Tension and paranoia rides high in this gripping novel…Don’t start this late at night unless you plan on losing sleep…’ Jenny Blackhurst, author of The Foster Child ‘It's certainly a fast paced and taut thriller…which I guarantee once you start reading it you will find impossible to put down.’ (5 stars) The Book Review Café ‘An all-absorbing, chilling, psychological thriller. My husband could not prise my Kindle out of my hands the weekend I read this!’ (5 stars) Bloomin’ Brilliant Books ‘Incredible twists and turns that I didn't see coming…a great read that is full of tension that really hooks you in.’ The Coffee and Kindle ‘This one grabs you and doesn't let go... I read it in 3 hours because I simply had to find out what was happening!’ (5 stars) The Suspense is Thrilling Me ‘A clever, intense and fast-paced psychological thriller that left me on the edge of my seat until the very last page!’ Ginger Cat Blog ‘This is a terrifyingly twisted psychological thriller…a compelling read leading to a sleepless night for the reader.’ (5 stars) Strong Book Reviews ‘The Stepmother had me turning pages in a frenzy. I was desperate to find out where it was going! A cracking read.’ Cass Green – author of The Woman Next Door ‘ A dark, twisting thriller that shows all too well how you can never escape the sins of your past.’ Simon Kernick ‘An action packed fast paced psychological thriller with lots of characters with dark secrets.’ TBC on FB

ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 422 In this 422nd issue of the Baba Indaba?s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Japanese Legend, "The Dragon Prince and the Stepmother?. In an Eastern land a Padishah (King) and his wife were childless, despite many years of marriage. One day the Padishah?s fell ill and none could cure her. Eventually a maiden arrives with a cure and son is born, whose form, however, was that of a dragon. The monarch was not pleased, but nonetheless contended himself with the thought that he now had a son. Many years later it was time to start teaching the dragon-prince. All who tried were killed or driven off. Once again the young maiden came to the Padishah?s aid and began to instruct the son, with positive results. Eventually the dragon-prince falls in love with the maiden who reluctantly agrees to marry him. But there is magic afoot. Is the dragon-prince really a youth cursed to take the form of a dragon? Is there a way to break this spell and can it be done before the day of the wedding? What happened on the wedding day you ask?? Well, as you would expect in these circumstances, many things could and did happen. But what were they? To find the answers to this question, and any others you may have, you will have to download and read this story to find out! Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories". Each issue also has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT - use Google maps. It is our hope that in looking up these place names, using Google Maps, that young people will be able to see images and read about other peoples and cultures from around the world. Through this activity, it is our hope that young people will not only increase their world geography but also increase their understanding and tolerance of other people and cultures. INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES 10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities. KEYWORDS/TAGS: Baba Indaba, Children?s stories, Childrens, Folklore, Fairy, Folk, Tales, bedtime story, legends, storyteller, fables, moral tales, Turkey, Anatolia, Persia, the dragon prince, stepmother, maiden, birth, teaching, instruction, proposal, wedding, imperial court, magic, marriage ceremony, trick, spell, break, love at first sight, padishah, king, queen, happy ever after

"The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts" is a dramatic work by Honoré de Balzac. The story tells of Gertrude, a woman who must make a tough choice between love and money. This topic is typical of the works of Balzac. As usual, the protagonists must drive important moral lessons and learn the real cost of true feelings and betraying them.

I read my daughter's diaries the other day. Let me share with you. You may think you know pretty much what's going on in your own family. Believe me, you do not.' Sappho was so happy when she married Gavin. She was in love and it seemed that at last everything was falling into place. But she hadn't considered his daughter, Isobel. She is a delightful, charming girl who spends her school holidays caring for the elderly and is the apple of Gavin's eye. Now cast in the role of Wicked Stepmother, Sappho tries all she can to befriend Isobel and find her place in the new family. It's not easy, but no one had promised it would be. Sappho perseveres. But she has a history, and the history works against her. When it becomes clear that, contrary to popular belief, it is Isobel who steals Gavin's love and attention, and Sappho who must fight for his affection, Sappho is at a loss. How can she win her husband back? With warmth, wit and her unique insights into the workings of the female mind, Fay Weldon has written a brilliant, unsettling new novel about family life today.

There are numerous twentieth century writers in English who are not technically native speakers of the language, and whose relation to it is ambivalent, problematic or even hostile: by a simple kinship analogy one may often speak of the 'stepmother tongue'. Whilst fully aware of the current debates in postcolonial theory, John Skinner is also conscious of its sometimes unhelpful complexities and contradictions. The focus of this study is thus firmly on the fictional practice of the writers discussed. He offers the reader an insight into the diversity and rewards of contemporary anglophone fiction, whilst analysing some eighty individual texts. A uniquely comprehensive guide, the book will be welcomed by students and teachers of postcolonial literature.

When Steven Armstrong tells his children he has fallen in love, he expects them to be happy that his life as a lonely, sixty-five year old widower is over. Instead their father's intended thirty-three year old personal trainer Charlene Hendricks is exactly the kind of woman they fear. Through marriage she becomes not only the stepmother to his three grown children, but their rival for their father's world class fortune. Suddenly an attack is made on her life. All the children are suspect, but which one has the best motive? Then a second attack backfires and mistakenly kills her husband, making the stepmother a wealthy heiress. Now, it is the children who accuse her of murdering their father. Only by finding the real killer can she prove her innocence.

Adoptive, foster and stepmothers, like biological mothers, find their lives completely changed by motherhood although they are not always granted the rights and privileges accorded to those who give birth. Barbara Waterman explores the common experiences that are shared by all those who enter the motherhood portal. She highlights the importance of wider family, community and professional support for non-biological parents and primary care-givers of both genders, and their children. A stepmother herself and a practicing psychologist, Waterman's writing is illustrated throughout with vignettes of children and parents from a range of backgrounds. She shows the important ways in which a non-biological attachment is both more similar to and more different from a biological attachment than is currently understood. In doing this, Waterman broadens the notion of the `traditional' family, and offers a positive alternative to the myth of the perfect mother. All kinds of step-, adoptive and foster families and those coming into contact with them will find this thoroughly researched and personal book an indispensable guide.