Step By Wicked Step is a children's book written by Anne Fine.

One stormy night, five stranded schoolchildren uncover the story of Richard Clayton Harwick - a bo y who many years ago learned what it was like to have a truly wicked stepfather. B ut 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. [edit]Chapter 1 On a wild and stormy night, five students, Claudia, Colin, Ralph, Pixie and Robb o, are sent ahead on a school trip to Old Harwick Hall. Instead of taking the school bus wit h Miss O'Dell and their other friends, they have to ride on a minibus with Mr. Plumley, one of th eir accompanying teachers, to their destination. After arriving, they explore the building and find an old, hexagonal tower room with five beds in it. In the dark of the night, with no electricity due to the raging storm, Colin spots a door which leads to an old, abandoned room where they discover a d iary of a young boy by the name of Richard Clayton Harwick. Prior to reading the diary, they wonder why they are put together in the minibus. They achieved the answer after eavesdropping on Miss O'Dell and Mr. Plumley's conversation - on Miss O'Dell's list, their names had ticks which indicate that they each had two different addresses on their permission slips, one for their mother's home and one for their father's h ome. Each child comes from a divorced family. Alas, Pixie reads Richard's diary out loud for the other childr en to hear. [edit]Chapter 2 Richard Clayton Harwick's father is ill and this worries everyone in Harwick Hal l. Before his death, he tells Richard to take care of his mother and sister, Lilith and Charlotte Harwick. Af ter that, Richard not only feels sad for his father's death, but also because his father had only thought of his mother and sister instead of him until the end of his life. Later in the story, Lilith marries Reverend Coldstone , a priest who is cruel towards Richard but is very nice towards Charlotte. Richard is then sent to a boarding s chool called Mordanger School, where he is treated like a prisoner. He then decides to run away and sail all ov er the world. He comes back twice to Harwick Hall but never bothers to enter it or meet his mother and sister. He finally returns home after reading a print which states that solicitors have something to his advantage back home, discovering from a letter Charlotte had written before her death, that his family had been searching for him until t he end of their lives and how Reverend Coldstone had turned out to be a very bad man. He then runs away forever, leavin g his green diary in his room. [edit]Chapter 3 - Claudia's Story: Green Pyjamas

Claudia starts telling her story to the other children: Claudia's parents quarre l a lot until her father decides to take his things and move away to his mother's house. One night, there is a floo d of phone calls, and for the first time, Claudia hears the name Stella, her dad's new girlfriend. After that night , Claudia's dad dare not visit nor come near the house anymore, but only talks to Claudia over the phone. On Boxing Day, Claudia meets Stella for the first time and thinks that Stella is a plain and mousy person. After a row with his mother, Claudia's dad then moves into Stella's house. Later, Stella gives Claudia a pair of beautiful green pyjam as as a late Christmas present even though Claudia is always rude and mean to her. One evening, Claudia's dad and S tella holds a dinner party to celebrate his thirty-seventh birthday. During the dinner, Claudia's dad's friends ignores Stella as they think that by doing so they would be loyal to Claudia's mum. Claudia felt sorry and went downstairs to thank her for the green pyjamas and thus making her point to the dinner guests that Stella is a wonderful person.